Where Am I?

I am sure you are missing my (opposite of) pithy little blog postings. I have not been over here due to a couple of factors. The first is a lack of inspiration as a writer. I have all of these things I want to blog about, but nothing is flowing. I have blogger's block (kinda like writer's block with fewer ramifications). Hopefully I will be back soon.

The lack of blogging is not for naught. I will have a couple of things in the first issue of Generate Magazine, if my submissions make it past the editors. I am focused on music, of course.

simple ways to green your next event or church meeting

Tampa’s alternative newspaper, Creative Loafing does a great job promoting and discussing sustainability and green topics. This week they give advice on 5 ways to green your next event. None of it is rocket science and the simple practices are common sense that many are already putting into place. In fact, we have promoted these practices at our former church plants and events I have been part of in the past, namely Brian McLaren’s Everything Must Change tour and our own A Sustainable Faith event last year.

However, in case you are a church leader wondering how to make your Sunday morning a bit more sustainable (yes, moving away from a corporate event which drains a substantial amount of energy and resources once a week is even greener), consider these ideas. If you are planning an event, such as Christianity21 or the Theological Conversation, here are some ideas which you may be doing already.

One thing to think about is who you say you are and want others to see you as. If you want others to see you as someplace that respects the Earth and values sustainability and those that care about such issues, your practices must express that. Remember, your practices betray what you believe more than your words.

The key to all of these is Education.

Link to original posting by CL.

1. Use Local Products and Vendors (I wish churches would remember this when they serve coffee and scones)
2. Market through the Web (churches that spend an inordinate amount of money and destroy countless trees with their postcards really need to hear this)
3. When serving food, make sure it is local and sustainable (it was cool at the McLaren conference last year to use a local organic/ natural foods fast food joint called Evos for our boxed lunch)
4. Charity (donate leftover food and products, especially those serving poor and homeless persons- Check with them ahead of time for rules, even before you finalize the menu)
5. Reduce and Recycle (common sense. Recycling is a nobrainer, but reducing and reusing is even better)

of course these are the simplest and take very little effort. If you have other ideas, please feel free to share them.

time waster- All things Potter

Waiting a few days to see Potter with the friends (9 of us), but for the sake of Potter freaks everywhere (I am not one, but count Alfonso Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban as my favorite film), I leave direct you to Paste Magazine's compendium of Potter articles you will not get anywhere else, including: playlists for Hogawart's houses (musically I may be a little more Slitherin), Harry's alliance with Satan,

a trivia quiz for Potterheads only,

some truly disturbing Potter merchandise, and (oh yeah) a review.

Link to the entire compendium and some funny cartoons.

By the way, if you wonder which House I reside in, it is

Get Sorted By The Hogwarts Sorting Hat!

Coldplay as Jambalaya

I finally figured out a way to explain my feelings about Coldplay. Coldplay is like bland food at a fern bar (chain restaurant). It is food. It tastes fine. It fills you up and you don't complain. But that is it. It masquerades as something from a fine restaurant, but it is really nothing special.

In fact, Coldplay is like jambalaya, but not the kind you get from a good Cajun or Creole restaurant... but the kind you would get at Applebees. It smells like real jambalaya, but it has very little flavor and almost no heat, made for mass consumption not artistry and a discerning palette.

Good Cheap Music Friday

Amazon is doing its best to help keep us listening to music during the recession with good cheap music. Here is a rundown of some of the best this month...

For only $5 bucks you can get some good new music:

A New Tide by Gomez. If you have never heard Gomez, a quirky banjo loving British pop band with good hooky sensibilities that is for fans of DMB, Damien Rice and Swell Season, listen to this. It is not as quirky as older albums or as perfectly accessible as How We Operate, but it is still a very good album, especially for $5. It will make my year end "best of" list. Listen to the song Airstream Driver here.

Grand by Matt & Kim. Fun pop, kinda like a Violent Femmes for today's college students, but not as dirty. It is slight, but good for listening to at a party or with the kids, especially the incandescent single Daylight.

There is also stuff by Jason Isbell (formerly of Drive By Truckers), Daft Punk, Interpol, Benn Lee, The Verve and the great Bob Mould (of Husker Du).

And some classic stuff:

Cyndi Lauper's True Colors from 1986 with the gems True Colors, which holds up well all these years later (though not as well as Time After Time) and What's Going On. If that does not cure your 80s Jones, surely Cuts Like a Knife from Bryan Adams before we realized he was not that good will do it. If that doesn't do it WHAM! will.

If you liked college rock from the 80s, you might remember the dBs a solid band with a great songwriter, Chris Stamey. Chris and Peter Holsapple have gotten back together on Here and Now to capture the old dBs magic. They have not, but it is still pretty good for fans of alt country meets Elvis Costello.

Another alt country album on the list is Ben Kweller's latest Changing Horses. He is very talented, but I think he misses the mark on this album. I would stick with Bonnie "Prince" Billy for good country, but it is pretty good for a poppy country album reminding me of 70s Nashville, just before it went to pot.

Of course, the best of the 80s bunch is Leonard Cohen's I'm Your Man. This album is a top 3 in his catalog, lyrically stunning. The music is not strong (too much cheesy 80s synths), but Everybody Knows is his best song besides Hallelujah and it even includes I'm Your Man, First We Take Manhattan, Ain't No Cure for Love and Tower of Song. $5 for an album with 5 classics and one of the best songs ever. Do not stop yourself from buying this album!

Moving on to the 90s we have Parachutes the debut from Coldplay, back when we thought they were gonna be some amalgam of Radiohead and U2 and right before they gave us the one great album of their lives, Rush of Blood to the Head and headed down the road of mediocrity and Applebee's quality rock. Anyway, it is a good album, worth $5.

Also, I would never buy a mix of Beach Boys songs, opting for whole albums, but they have one for $5.

The best of the bunch not including Mr. Cohen is Diamond and Dogs, a good David Bowie album but not up there with Let's Dance, Ziggy Stardust or Low. CCR even has one $5 album, but I am not a huge CCR fan, so you would need to judge.

For those that want to torture Music Snobs, I guess you could lay down $5 for an overblown soundtrack to a horrible move with gloriously bad acting, Ghost.

poor wittle bron bron

Laci sent me a link to this. Watch ESPN commentators go off on Wittle Bron Bron and Nike hiding a tape of Bron Bron getting dunked on by a college kid. Oh, if this tape ever gets out, you will see it first right here.

thoughts on multiple subjects

because people know I have an opinion on pretty much everything and it is usually a little different from the opinion of others, I am usually asked what I think about things, especially those things I don't blog about.

So, in an effort to share all those thoughts and opinions at once, here it is:

Michael Jackson's death- Off the Wall was a superior album to Thriller and Bad. Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough was his best song. I am glad Bubbles the monkey is okay. And, I am really glad I am not in Los Angeles today.

Farrah's death- I feel old.

Billy Mays- Don't trust a product on television he was not hawking. In other words, no matter what- the Snuggie is not a good product. If it was, there would be footage of Mays wearing one.

Andy Roddick- you won my Wimbledon, friend. Plus, as Bill Simmons said... you are worth $50 million and are married to a swimsuit model. Buck up, little camper.

The Southern Baptist kerfuffles surrounding their convention, etc.- Oh, you guys still around?

Sarah Palin- if this whole thing is about making mad cash while you are the most marketable since you have lots of kids and a baby with severe needs that will cost lots of money, Go for it. I respect that, more than you can imagine. If you want to be the Conservative Oprah, good for you. Milk that cash cow until it is dry. You would be a welcome respite on television from the crazy Republican babes Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter. You may not be as smart, but you have accomplished something beyond being a mouth in a dress. If this is about positioning yourself to run for president, please give it a rest.

Mark Sanford- follow your priest's advice, go into a more silent mode. And a note to all politicians, just because Clinton had multiple affairs and became President, does not make this a template to be followed.

The latest Wilco album- "a sonic shoulder to cry on" as the song says. Much better than the last album (okay, that is not hard).

The latest Moby album- Nice. Seriously. I had written you off.

The latest Regina Spektor album- my kids love it and it continues to grow on me. I think you need to buy this one.

fighting the power 20 years ago today with Spike Lee

While reminiscing about previous July 4ths, Kristi and I found huge holes in our memories regarding the holiday. Not being particularly patriotic people and not having a great love of fireworks, we have had so many quiet Independence Days that we have forgotten most. Sure, I remember the Esplanade in Boston or the crappy Tomb Raider flick, even Mexican food with friends and a couple of parties, but that is about it, except for a couple of distinct memories, one from exactly 10 years ago and another from exactly 20.

I mentioned our July 4^th plans for 1999 in my last blog, spending time in Boston both in the city and in Schaumberg with our Arab friends. However, 20 years ago I remember the music I was listening to and the movie I saw on July 4. Why? Because this week they released the 20^th anniversary DVD of a life changing movie moment for me.

On July 4, 1989 I was a 20 year old college Junior living in the Theta Chi fraternity house in Tallahassee, FL. I had plans for later in the day to watch fireworks with my old roommate (shout out to Mike Houghton) and his friends and I had just bought Don Henley’s End of the Innocence (89 was a good music year with Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, The Replacements, Depeche Mode, De la Soul, King’s X and The Pixies releasing great albums). In fact, I would be attending a seminal show in 3 days, on my 21^st birthday.* Henley's (along with Browne's and Niel Young's) album was a late 80s Liberal college student dream work.

But, on this day before heading out to a patriotic event, I journeyed to the local cinema by my lonesome for a matinee showing of the 2^nd most controversial movie of the year** which had just opened in Tallahassee, Do the Right Thing. As became a common occurrence, I found no friends to watch a Spike Lee movie with me and was the only or near only white guy in the theater. Watching that movie is probably the single most patriotic thing I have ever done on July 4.

It blew my mind, re-oriented my world view, cemented my ideas about race and disturbed the peace-nick in me. I had always walked in between 2 worlds… frat guy but tee totaling Jesus freak that danced til 2 AM and got up early for church, Southern Baptist/ Campus Crusader but political Liberal (by the day’s standard) that sucked at packaged evangelism, member of a closeted racist organization (my fraternity) advocating racial equality in the Greek system, a poor kid masquerading as something else. This film shook up both of those worlds.

From the opening bombast of Public Enemy’s Fight The Power to the uncomfortable hilarity of the racist stereotyping scene from every ethnicity to the closing moments of racial tensions setting off a powder keg of riots and the ending quotes by Malcom X and MLK, I sat there in stunned silence, tears in my eyes and stomach churning. I remember being noticeably downbeat at the fireworks presentation that evening.

The DVD has just been released on its 20^th anniversary. Bush I has given way to Obama, but I think the power of the film has not wavered. It is simply one of the best films ever made and the gutsiest I can think of. All of my white friends judged it when it came out, but none saw it. Of course, life imitated art a few years later with the Rodney King verdict in LA, with much defamation of Spike Lee and his film. It was blamed for the riots with no understanding of what the film was trying to say (honestly, it reminds me of Fight Club in the total misunderstanding people have of the movie). See it again or for the first time on its 20^th birthday… and remember to Fight the Power.

*I saw The Replacements, one of the greatest bands to ever grace a stage in America. I was given backstage passes, sharing words and food with a noticeably drunk Paul Westerberg, strangely turning down his offer of a beer opting instead for a signed drumstick, backstage pass and t-shirt (proclaiming “I was ripped off for $18 bucks by The Replacements”).

**#1 most controversial? The Last Temptation of Christ. Proving that talking about race is only trumped by talking about religion for controversy. Looking back, that movie was pretty lame.

National Geographic on Arab Christians (and my 10 yr anniversary of friendships with a group of them)

link to pictures

The stories in this enlightening article about Arab Christians are the stories of my friends. I have mentioned it before on this blog and talked ad naseum about the plight of Arab Christians. This is mostly due to friendships gathered during the past decade (actually this weekend marks the 10^th Anniversary of an invite as speaker at Boston’s Arab Baptist Conference). What started with my assumptions about Arab Christians quickly became a lesson in how pointless assumptions are. I actually thought I was going to be with a group of extremely modest dressers in hijabs or burkas that would be offended by what I might say (kind of a combo of Muslims and Independent Baptist). This was nothing like what I encountered, the most hospitable, hip, well dressed and financed group of friends that kept us out too late and made fun of each other unmercifully (and made fun of me for being extremely white). In other words… my kind of people.

These Arab Christians shared their stories, invited us into their lives and homes, supported my ministry, attended our church in Boston and kept bringing me back to speak at their events. Of all the people my wife and I have met along our journey together as partners, Christians and ministers, this group of friends is close to the top.

Most of all they enlightened me, one that thought everyone from the Middle East was Jewish or Muslim. Although I had a Lebanese Christian Seminary professor and took classes on the area and its religions, I still had assumptions until I heard the stories; stories of people caught between Islam and Judaism and in the nether regions of a US foreign policy supported by American Christians which has ravaged Arab Christian numbers in the Middle East, a group of people feeling animosity at times for the support America and American Christians have for Israel and justified anger towards Israel's policies (the policies we support are often at the expense of Christians who have been lumped in with Muslims and find themselves aligning with them on many occasions). In fact, this American Christian unconditional support for anything done by Israel has hurt our own brothers and sisters, which is directly in conflict with the call of Jesus in Matthew 25 to care for our brothers and sisters in prison, without food and clothes. Ironic, huh?

I have heard the stories of a teenager from Gaza which was the hardest counseling session I have ever encountered (how do you counsel someone that fears bombings, is surrounded by another religion and wants desperately to leave her country for safety, when you have benefited from America’s luck?), sat on a train with a podiatrist from Lebanon as he told us of the day he returned to his home which had been bombed before fleeing to America or the mother of friends from Palestine who never had citizenship, rights or a passport in her own country, I have a Christian friend with the unfortunate name Jihad (he goes by Ji) and friends from Egypt that have been accused of being terrorists on many occasions, even though one worked for an American defense manufacturer.

These are the stories of Arab Christians many of whom are from the Levant (Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon), where Christianity was founded and flourished for centuries. Now Christians make up about 8% of the population (down from 25% a century ago), mostly in Lebanon and have all but left places like the area surrounding Damascus. They have left because of violence, oppression and pressure, not just from Muslims, but from Israelis and America’s foreign policy which at times put them in danger (see the plight of Iraqi Christians since our invasion).

I am grateful to National Geographic for giving their stories to us. I hope we remember them as we look at the Middle East and our Arab neighbors in America.

link to article

hat tip to Derek via David Dark.

Music I am digging

Bonnie "Prince" Billy's latest gem is called Beware and my is favorite thing he has recorded in quite a while. If you are wondering where the good old Outlaw Country of Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson went, look no farther. A miner of American traditional music, Billy's latest captures the essense of a form of music lost in the glimmer and sheen of Nashville.

Thank the Lord for the Prince.

Listen here.

Oklahoma's Other Lives' self titled album is only $5.00 on Amazon and a gorgeous piece of piano driven classically oriented chamber pop. It is for fans of Radiohead's mellow stuff, as well as Sigur Ros. If you like minor chords and melancholy music (a theme this year) you will like this.

Listen here.