oh yeah, and something I'm REALLY excited about

So anyone familiar with this blog will know that Don Chaffer is my favorite songwriter but I've never seen him live. After Miles and Ruby were born he and Lori took a break from touring so I have missed the goodness of Waterdeep live. BUT NO LONGER.

Derek Webb.

Sandra McCracken.

Alli Rogers.

WATERDEEP.

Eddie's Attic in Georgia. A venue I've always wanted to go to (the Indigo Girls play there fairly often).

Morgan and I are committed to going.


I'm also definitely going to the Art, Music, Justice tour with Sara Groves, Derek, and Sandra that's coming near me in PA. I've never seen Sara Groves though I love her songwriting and, come to think of it, that will be my first opportunity to hear Sandra live too which is totally exciting for me. So yay for concerts!

woo!

noisetrade.com is up and fully functional- I'm actually a bit surprised at only having to tell three friends. Three of the albums I already own and would like to tell ALL my friends. Check it out!!!

november?!

From Alli Rogers mass email update:

in November she's going to be out on the road with Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken, and Waterdeep!!!

FRICKIN RIGHT THREE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!

I'm excited to see Alli.

I'm excited to see Derek and Sandra.

But that PALES in comparison to how excited I am to see DON AND LORI!!!!



I have been really annoyed with myself recently for not packing my stuff for Kansas City for one of the FEW shows they've had since I've known of them and lived within 10 hours. But, seriously, I'm certain nothing is going to stop me come November....

Also HERE is an interview I wish I had gotten to have with Don. Fascinating.

songs that stick

New Shiny Shoes
Sandra McCracken

It's been almost two years now since I saw you last
Sorry I remember you anyway 'cause you won't escort me out of your past
So you'd better just leave me here
'Cause I knew you when
Just take your new shiny shoes
You don't have to be my friend

Go ahead and walk away
Sever these last ties
I am nothing but a breath
And you're nothing but a lie

You got the last word when you left
to put me in my place
and you went off to your wild dreams
gone without a trace

While you follow that yellow brick road
to thine own self be true
and when you choose to go that way
in the end there is only you

Go ahead and walk away
Sever these last ties
I am nothing but a breath
And you're nothing but a lie

high on the sound of your own name
and this fleeting fanfare
the common ground is falling down
as if it was never there

while I'm still wearing this same old dress
my heart has come alive
and i will wait for your return
if you'll ever change your mind

Go ahead and walk away
Sever these last ties
I am nothing but a breath
And you're nothing but a lie

I wish I could find a way for you to actually hear this song
. Don't you love (and sometimes hate?) when there are songs that wrench on you again and again? Sometimes because they're too close to home and other times because it's so far from where you are?

I once went to a poetry reading to raise money for the situation in Darfur and two poets quoted Czeslaw Milosz, "Poetry doesn't change anything." Both poets, of course, attempting to disagree. I have to say perhaps the highest aim of art is to do just that: change something. Sometimes it's a subtle change in the way we approach something, sometimes it's picking up the phone to fight seeming inevitability, sometimes it leads us to more art or prayer, or conversation, and the ripples continue.

This song does all of that for me.

more mix CD goodness

I met a Catholic musician recently who expressed his frustration with the lack of artistry and authenticity in most Christian music, a genre he's pretty much given up on. I decided to make him a mix CD to remedy this. He's primarily a pianist, and I knew he liked Burlap to Cashmere and admired Rich Mullins. So here's what I came up with:

1. I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time: Over the Rhine
2. The Dress Looks Nice on You: Sufjan Stevens
3. The Things We Can and Cannot Keep: Alli Rogers
4. She Held My Hand: Steven Delopoulos
5. Mercy Moves Me: 100 Portraits
6. Springtime Indiana: Sandra McCracken
7. Mansions: Steven Delopoulos (from his live album)
8. On a Night That Felt Outdated: Waterdeep
9. May I Always Keep My Feet Upon the Ground: Steven Delopoulos
10. A Savior on Capitol Hill: Derek Webb
11. Have You Fallen on the Cornerstone: Don Chaffer
12. Eve: Sandra McCracken
13. Work to Be Done: Steven Delopoulos
14. Used to Love: Judd & Maggie
15. Lonely Sometimes: Waterdeep
16. For the Morning: Alli Rogers (from "At Sea")
17. Ohio: Over the Rhine
18. To Be Alone With You: Sufjan Stevens
19. Pieces: Enter the Worship Circle
20. 18 Bullet Holes: Waterdeep

good sounds

At my Starbucks every once in a while I hear a song that rings familiar and it's never on a playlist that I can pull up on the system- annoying! But recently I have heard Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek) floating over to the bar and I asked my friend Holly (a gifted musician and songwriter in her own right) if she was familiar with their music. She wasn't so I made her a mix CD of some of my faves with a few bonus tracks thrown on. The playlist was:

1. This Side: Nickel Creek
2. Let it Fall: Sean Watkins
3. Doubting Thomas: Nickel Creek
4. When You Come Back Down: Nickel Creek
5. Reasons Why: Nickel Creek
6. The Lighthouse Tale: Nickel Creek
7. Run Away Girl: Sean Watkins
8. Spit on a Stranger: Nickel Creek
9. No Lighted Windows: Sean Watkins
10. When in Rome: Nickel Creek
11. House of Tom Bombadil: Nickel Creek
12. The Fox: Nickel Creek
13. Art of Virtue: Adrienne Young and Little Sadie
14. The Things We Can and Cannot Keep: Alli Rogers
15. I Boast No More: Sandra McCracken
16. Wedding Dress: Derek Webb
17. Pieces: Enter the Worship Circle
18. Kingdom of Noise: Judd & Maggie
19. And: Waterdeep

so proud of my sissy...

I like to share the things I love. Part of it is just enjoying being right but also when you love something you share it, right? In addition to brainwashing my sister into appreciating the music I love she has written about the two concerts she just went to (the "same" show twice that is) and it's scarily like something I would write.

Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken, Alli Rogers

My sister went to see the aforementioned trio Friday night and wrote about it on her blog. In typical "us" fashion she decided to drive to West Virginia this evening to do it all over again...

"real" reviews

I don't know how people work with a deadline. I mean, I *do* I have worked with deadlines before and created art under them but for some reason music seems different. For example, when I first downloaded Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken's Ampersand EP on Valentine's Day I had this great idea about a review; except it was really complicated and involved a compare/contrast with the Indigo Girls' "All That We Let In" as well as reflections on seeing a couple renewing their wedding vows at daily mass. So it never happened. Then I got a mysterious CD in the mail the other day and when I opened it I was surprised to see the actual hardcopy of the EP, although I guess somewhere in my head I knew it was coming. But the review still hasn't happened, though if anyone (MORGAN) would like to anticipate what the connection between the aforementioned songs would have been, please feel free to share.

Also, I have been meaning to listen/think about/review several new albums: the mix CD Trey made me, the new stuff I've downloaded. But instead I've felt a driving necessity to listen to weird things like Rich Mullins-> Andrew Peterson or wake up and listen to Kelly Clarkson-> Saving Jane. Yeah.

So how to "real" reviewers do it? Phew.