Thoughts and Musings on Faith, Music, Family, Life

You Are Loved

This morning I was asked to give the invocation at our local high school for their National Honor Society assembly.  As with my invocation last year, I wanted to try and say something of substance, avoiding the vanilla invocations I suffered through at my high school assemblies back in the day.  If I were seventeen years old and sitting in those seats, what would I want/need to hear? Events of the past few weeks, and especially news that a freshman at a nearby university committed suicide just yesterday, were on my mind as I put paper to pen (well, fingertip to keyboard) and wrote this:

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Would you invocate with me, please...

God, I want to congratulate those who, in a few minutes, will hear their names called and make their way to this stage.  I want them to know how proud we are of them for all their hard work and dedication; and that because we are all inextricably bound to each other as a family of sorts – sharing in each other’s joys and sorrows, celebrations and struggles – in a way their success today is everyone’s success.

But if “invocation” means “calling something out”, then perhaps there’s an important truth that needs to be acknowledged: that the underlying message we are gathering here to lift up today is not “You Are Smart.”  Scholarship, Service, Leadership, Character – these four benchmarks of the National Honor Society stand apart from one another, and can only be united, can only be threaded together in the life of a person by one singular twine, one overarching truth.  And that truth is love.

So as strange as it may sound, the message for today is not “You are Smart,” but "You Are Loved.”  You are loved if your name is called, and you are loved if you name is never spoken.  You are loved if you are first string, second string, or no string.  You are loved if you are in the majority or in the minority; you are loved if you fit in perfectly or if you don’t fit in anywhere.  You are loved if you think you know exactly who you are and where your life is heading, and you are loved if you’ve never been more confused and terrified. You are loved if the words you hear from the adults in your life are affirming, empowering, compassionate, caring; and you are loved if the words you hear from the adults in your life are critical, judgmental, spiteful, even abusive.  You are loved.

And that love is always, always greater than fear.  Greater than the fear that drives some to blow up bombs at marathon finish lines; greater than the hate that incessantly seeks to divide us over stark fault lines, where the “other” is always wrong and at fault; greater than the shame we feel when we are told we’re not good enough or that our worth is fully dependent on being more than enough.  Love is greater than all of that.

So that’s the message I want these fine folks to hear today – those who will be inducted and those who won’t leave their seats.  That you love them no matter what.  And if they let that love carry them forward into the wonderful life ahead of them, then maybe, just maybe, they will not only learn to love you and love all of your people.  Maybe they’ll learn the most basic and most difficult kind of love: to love themselves.

We invocate all of this in your name, AMEN.

(on a side note, five of our church's youth were inducted, joining the three already there. Yep, I'm proud.)

Thirty seconds of gratitude

When I was in middle school, my aunt spent the night at our house in Raleigh in the middle of some travels. She had a friend with her; another woman about her age whose name I can't remember. I do remember that she was nice and had a warm smile, and that she had a really cool Bible.  I know, just what a minister would say, right?  Bear with me.  The Bible was actually in comic book form, thus having immediate appeal to a 12-year old boy.  I "read" nearly half of it that night before going to bed.

When I woke up the next morning, my aunt and her friend had already left to get an early start on the rest of their trip.  But there was one thing of hers that didn't accompany them.  I found the comic book Bible at my place at the kitchen table when I came down for breakfast.  Inside was a long inscription from its former owner.  She talked about how she enjoyed meeting me and how she was pleased with my interest in her comic book Bible.  Which is why she was giving it to me, since her joy at knowing I'd get a lot out of it exceeded any joy she'd have in keeping it.  She wished me the best and said she'd look forward to our paths crossing again someday.

I haven't crossed paths with that woman since - at least not yet.  But the Bible is still with me.  It sits on the shelf in my office, as it did in the office of my previous church, as it will in every office I ever have.  And the thing is, it's not really there because it's a Bible.  It's there to remind me that God's word can be a heartfelt inscription on the inside flap, and that sometimes the greatest gifts come from those who make a conscious choice to express gratitude in the simplest of ways.

I was reminded of that comic book Bible last night when a link to this article showed up in my Twitter feed, about a note left at a ramen restaurant in Austin, TX.  Scrawled on a napkin to not only the waitress but to the entire restaurant, thanking them for the good food and service and the way both provided a much-needed lift in the person's day.  The result of some pretty awesome ramen?  It's possible.  Slightly over-the-top?  You could argue that.   But I think you'd be selling the author short in either case.  Much like my aunt's traveling companion, this person chose to do something they certainly weren't obligated to do: take thirty seconds to express gratitude.

Of course, those thirty seconds could've been used for something entirely different.  Case in point: the infamous "I give God 10% why do you get 18" receipt left at an Applebees restaurant earlier this year.  You can choose not to leave a tip if you so desire (although that's pretty crappy of you if you do).  But why leave a note about it - and why oh why bring God into the mix?  I digress.

There is yet a third option we have with those thirty seconds, and it's one you and I consistently choose nearly all the time: doing nothing.  We're not overly vindictive or thoughtless along the lines of the non-tipping pastor person.  Nor are we exceedingly gracious or reflective like ramen-napkin guy.  We just....are.  So there are no notes, no inscriptions; we simply move along with the course of things. All things being equal, we're not going to do anything extra with that receipt or napkin because it's not that big of a deal to us.  Because we're in a hurry and don't have time to bother with it.  Because it doesn't even register on our radar.  Because doing nothing is safe.

You and I, our inclination in life is to play it safe.  Self-preservation is built into our DNA, and it charts the course of our daily walk and our lifelong journey.  And this isn't a bad thing - it's a big reason why our species has survived as long as it has.

But there's another reason humanity has thrived, and ironically it's because we don't always play it safe.  We have those wonderful moments where we choose to take risks, step outside our comfort zone, chart new courses, veer off-script and write our own ending. And just between you and me, I wish I were better at recognizing those moments when they came around. I wish I were like my aunt's friend, who rather than instinctively pack that comic book Bible in her travel bag like the nights before, chose instead to veer off-script and write something in it and leave it on someone else's kitchen table.  And to think - thirty seconds is all it took. 

I mean, what would happen - what would seriously happen - if we made a point of going out of our way to be gracious to someone else?  Leave a note on a napkin, shoot a quick text to someone, shake a hand and offer a smile.  Something simple; something unexpected and unprovoked.  This is not some kind of "pay it forward" thing.  This isn't about karma or balancing the universe.  This is simply about taking time to express gratitude for no other reason than the expression itself. 

With our actions - or our inaction - we have the potential to enrich the life of another person, or shame that person, or do nothing at all for that person.  All things being equal, which would you prefer to choose?

Chew on that while I take thirty seconds to write a quick note to the coffee house I'm hanging out in right now.

Bears Bulldozing Bullies

We all know that bullying is a big problem in our schools, and that it starts young.  I have a fourth-grader who tells me stories of stuff he's seen in the hallways over the years that makes my heart sink.  There are a lot of adults out there carrying the torch of putting an end to bullying - and that's great, because we need as big a chorus as we can get.

But let's face it: kids aren't necessarily going to listen to some grown-up they may or may not know.  They're much more likely to pay attention to a teenager they see around town, who by virtue of their age and status in a small community with only one high school is the coolest thing since the latest Harlem Shake video (presumably a lot cooler). 

That's why I was elated when I saw that a handful of students from our local high school had put together a short YouTube video to be shared with the students at my son's elementary school.  Pastor pride also beamed forth, since nearly half of these kids are church members of mine (Emily, remind me never to get a drink from the water fountain when you're in the room ;-).  So much about this video is awesome, including the production quality (done by the same church youth who created our church's capital campaign video earlier this year).  More importantly is the way it highlights different kinds of bullying beyond the physical - verbal, cyber, etc.  And the critical message at the end: that whether you're the bullier, the bullied or a bystander, it's up to you to bring it to a stop.

A word of explanation about the video's name - the mascot of our local high school is the Bears. The cool thing is that all four of our city schools have a variation of the same mascot. So it really is all Bears at all schools "bulldozing bullies."

I can't wait for my son and all his elementary school friends to see this video and know it was made by some high school buddies they'll likely bump into in the grocery store or at church on Sunday morning. I hope they'll tell them "thanks."  I know I'll be.

(Click HERE if you can't see the video above)

 

Good news from the Factivist

He's also the frontman for a rock band I'm pretty fond of, as evidenced in a recent blog post. For years, Bono has been out there telling the world that we need to step it up in the fight against poverty. Now, in this recent TED Talk, he tells us that what we're doing is working and that we need to keep it up. As only an Irish lyricist can put it, "We can't get this done until we really accept that we can get this done."

Let's get this done. It'll be a Beautiful Day when we do (sorry, couldn't resist).

(Click HERE if the video clip doesn't show above. Oh, and be advised, as there's a tiny bit of adult language and humor involved).

Reflecting on NEXT in the Pre-Op room

Okay, so granted, it wasn't the best planning on my part.  Nevertheless, less than 24 hours after the closing of the 2013 NEXT Church Conference in Charlotte, there I was: lying on a hospital bed in the pre-op, all gowned up and ready to go. It was a torn meniscus that had brought me there; and in standard surgery fashion there was a whole lot of "hurry up and wait."  Three hours of it, in fact. So I had plenty of time to think amidst the beeping and humming of machinery and the impending dose of drugs that would send me off to la-la land.

(and as a quick aside, I think every pastor should have surgery at some point in ministry, preferably for an actual ailment that requires it. I'll never look at hospital visits and pre-surgery prayers with parishioners the same again, having been in the bed rather than standing beside it.)

Anyway, so I had a lot of time to think in that pre-op room.  And I won't lie to you: I thought about NEXT.

I thought about this relatively new movement in the Presbyterian Church (USA), described on its Facebook page as "sparking imaginations, connecting congregations, and offering a distinctively Presbyterian witness to Jesus Christ." I thought about the way co-organizer Shannon Kershner further explained that it is not an affinity group pushing any doctrine or issue currently being contended with ad nauseum in our denomination. The one thing that binds those in NEXT together is relationship.  Relationship with each other and relationship with Jesus. The fact that NEXT makes this their focus and stubbornly refuses to be parlayed by any special interest group or agenda is precisely why I and many others are on board with it.

I thought about all the people there, around 650 of them.  Honestly, it was like a high school class reunion for not one year but twenty or thirty.  Pastors and laypeople, friends and new faces. Retired preachers and folks not yet ordained.  Southerners and Northerners, Midwesterners and West Coasters.  And a new category made possible in our social media age: people I've known for a year or more, conversed and engaged with, but have never actually met in person until now. A shout-out to Facebook and Twitter for creating this new way of knowing people, where the first face-to-face is not the beginning of a great friendship but the continuation of it.

I thought about something Steve Eason said in his sermon on Monday evening worship - something that struck me as tweet-worthy:

I think this speaks to a major reason why NEXT Church has taken off the way it has.  We all recognize the cultural shift the church has endured over the past 50 years. Gone are the days where no one dared hold a soccer game on Sunday mornings; where pastors were bestowed with de facto mayor-like authority in their communities.  Study after study has shown the sharp decline in mainline denominations that's reflected in greater pew vacancies and shrinking budgets. For some, the only appropriate response is an alarmist mindset rooted strongly in fear. NEXT, however, chooses to view these changes in a positive light as God's intentional process of creating something wonderful and new.

Around this time, some lady stuck me with an IV, so I had to think about needles for a minute. When she was done, though, I went back to thinking about NEXT.

And I thought about all the wonderful speakers. And you know the really cool thing?  They weren't the "big names" you typically see at these type of events.  That's not how NEXT rolls.  What they're more into are the unsung heroes who are quietly doing some amazing "next-ish" things in their contexts. So we heard from the Caucasian man and African-American woman who have teamed up to revitalize a defunct and crumbling church facility in Philadelphia; the seminary president who used thirty seconds of a Janet Jackson video (FYI, it wasn't "Nasty Boys") to share the story of a growing student body that at one point numbered seven; the Washington DC-based pastor who unpacked worship liturgy as improv; the pastor in Columbia, SC who equated God's spirit to live music as opposed to 16-bit MIDI. Every voice mattered, official speaking role or not; and it had nothing to do with the size of one's congregation or how many degrees are hanging on the wall.

I thought about what is NEXT for the church - something that is tempting to immediately jump to, like the kid who stares at the wrapped present under the Christmas tree wondering what's inside.  I thought about the fact that this journey we're on in the NEXT Church is not a formula or five-step plan that can be implemented in actions steps to acheieve "maximum results."

NEXT is more like jazz, really.  The Spirit moving in and through us, gently reminding us that we're not directing the band but are the called and equipped players offering our unique voice and gifts to the ensemble.  And the sound that is produced is the sound of a church that is not looking to be "successful" as much as it's striving to be faithful. 

That's all that I was thinking.  And then they wheeled me into the OR and hit me with the good stuff.  I don't remember much after that, but I do remember the last thought on my mind was how there is no better and more exciting time than now for the church to be thinking about what's next.

Imagine when...

I was catching a cup of coffee after a presbytery meeting at my favorite coffee house in Winston-Salem, Krankies.  I had my computer with me and was going to work on a sermon, because that's what I'm always doing, and because I tend to do my best sermonizing when coffee is involved.  Anyway, I grabbed my cup of Kenyan and sat down at a table in the corner, and when I looked up at the wall next to me this is what I saw:

It's called an "Imagination Installation," a local movement of sorts in the area; and per its website it's about "harnessing the collective power of our community's dreams."  Which, in case you're wondering, is awesome.  So was this wall - dozens of small lime green signs tacked and taped all over the place, each with the simple title "Imagine When...."at the top,  and lots of space underneath for folks to write whatever.

So the sermon would have to wait awhile, because in truth I was looking at tons of little sermons on the wall of this coffee house, and it's always good when the preacher gets preached too. Here are a few that particularily spoke to me:

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...the word "can't" is lost from the spoken language

...people "make each other right"

...we decide to invest in happiness instead of war and hatred.

...nutritiuous local food is abundantly available everywhere and is preferred

...elected officials work for the good of the people, not for the power of the office

...human beings realize we are stewards of this earth, and no more important than any other living being

...we are not strangers

...there is a woman in the White House!

...we recognize that "the kingdom of God is here" (no waiting required)

..very child can squish mud between his or her toes in a creek

..we dream together to empower each other, rather than live in isolation

...we grow food rather than lawns, and share that food with our community

..we all Iive in the moments like our dogs, cats and horses do.

...our economic system rewards cooperation, collaboration and generosity over competition

...we all realize we are happier the more we give and love others, rather than how much we get and are loved.

...public art is on every corner in downtown Winston-Salem

...we know that life comes from death

...color is a hue that a painter uses to transform the canvas :-)

...the health care system is healed

..all pets have an owner that is loving and caring and a comfortable place to be

...corporations figure out that creativity and innovation comes from liberated, encouraged and respected employees

...children and adults go outside and play every day

...education rewards innovation and creativity more than compliance

...every child comes home at the end of school to a loving family member and a plate of cookies and milk

...each of us life our lives with respect and honor of all living beings

...we all remember that we're one big family

...people have the courage to be themselves

...we all let our authentic selves shine!

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Of course, I got in on the act. Here's the one I did.  If you know me, this should come as no surprise:


You know what I liked most about this excellent use of coffee house wall space? It's "Imagine When," not "Imagine If."  It's only a matter of time, folks.  Let's get busy.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness...

I have a lot of favorite MLK quotes.  I think this one's my favorite:

Here are some others:

I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that we are moving against wrong when we do it, because John was right, God is love. He who hates does not know God, but he who has love has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality. 

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state.

I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

 

Happy MLK Day, everyone.

 

Made in the image of "ME"

It's been an especially wild sports week in what typically is already a wild sports season, with BCS bowls and NFL playoffs (shamelessly showing my football bias, I know).

First, on Monday we heard the not-so-shocking news that cyclist and LiveStrong founder Lance Armstrong was going to confess to years of performance-enhancing doping, during a two-hour interview with Oprah.  The shock waves you felt coarsing through the veins of America were not from the revelation of this news, since even the most naive soul had long ago accepted the obvious.  The big deal was that Lance was finally going to admit it.  For years the accusations came - and for years, Lance fought them viciously.  One might even say maliciously, seeking to destroy the lives and reputations of his accusers with mob-like intensity.  But now he was admitting to it all - the reasons for doing so, of course, we can only fathom.

Then, just a mere 48 hours later, we were treated to the most bizarre non-sports sports story since Tonya Harding hired a hitman to bash rival Nancy Kerrigan's ankle.  Notre Dame linebacker and Heisman runner-up Manti Te'o released a statement saying that his girlfriend - the one who was in a car wreck this past fall, the one who died of leukemia mere afters after Te'o's own grandmother died - wasn't really his girlfriend.  In fact, she never existed. The shock wave here didn't come from a young man fabricating a girlfriend story (gents, be honest, in your single years how many times did you make something up to save face?)  This was a big deal because the saga of his girlfriend - a saga he repeated frequently in interviews - was a major storyline in the fall football season and a significant contributor to the "legend of Te'o" that had people outside of the sports world talking.

Wow.  One can only fathom what craziness will befall the sports world in the next 48 hours.

This isn't really a comparison of the two sports stars, because they're very different situations.  The former is pretty black-and-white: a megalomaniac willing to do anything to promulgate the aura around him, no matter how many lies he told or who he trampled under foot along the way.  The latter - well, that's a little more grey.  The verdict's still out because no one (other than Te'o) knows the full truth, although it appears (for now) that Manti was the victim of a hoax called "catfishing," where a fake online persona is created and someone is made to believe that persona is real.  At some point, Manti realized he had been duped - this after talking openly to the press about his "girlfriend" and certainly embellishing elements of the truth.  He was too embarassed to admit to it, and since the girlfriend story had long taken root, he let it keep going.  He wasn't totally at fault, but he sure wasn't blameless either.

So this is not a comparison of the two. It's more of an observation.  An observation about image - our image - and what we will do to further and protect that image.  No one can fault Lance or Manti for wanting to put their best foot forward and show a side of themselves that leaves us thinking they're a freak of an athlete or a real human being who has overcome tremendous tragedy.

The rub comes when we fail to understand that our image is something that's already inside us, and instead see it as something that must be manufactured.  Something we have to work to achieve.  That's the hole these two guys stumbled into.  Maybe it was strict ego, or maybe it was with an eye toward marketability and branding.  Probably a little of both.  But the reason you and I ever heard of Lance Armstrong certainly wasn't because of America's rabid appetite for the sport of cycling.  It was because the dude beat testicular cancer when the doctors told him he had no chance, AND he won several Tour de Frances (which, when we started watching it on TV, we realized how ridiculously hard it is), AND he helped raise millions of dollars for cancer research.  The reason we heard of Manti Te'o is not because he plays football - there are hundreds of collegiate linebackers out there.  It's because he plays football at Notre Dame, AND he's a Heisman candidate and NFL first-rounder, AND he supposedly had a girlfriend who tragically died of leukemia in the middle of his senior season but kept playing well anyway.

Self-preservation is part of our DNA.  We instinctively want to protect our image, because it's from that image that we get our sense of self-worth.  And at our most basic and vulnerable level, we want to feel like we mean something to someone. The problem comes when we forget whose image we are made in:

“Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature..." - Genesis 1:27

I like the idea of being made in the image of someone besides myself, and not just because I'm a pastor. Being made in God's image means we don't have to work so hard to be someone or something we're not.  Being made in God's image means we don't need to promulgate a caricature - or a downright lie - to make our lives meaningful.  Being made in God's image does NOT mean we're going to live a mistake-free life or that we won't need to be held accountable for our actions.  It simply means we don't try to maneuver this crazy life all by our lonesome.

I have no idea if Lance or Manti are religious folk, and that's not really the point.  The truth is that these two are not the cause of the "made in the image of me" dilemma, but signs of the epidemic.  There are so many ways in our social-media-saturated, 24-7 news cycle culture for us to refashion and remake ourselves into someone we are not. And it doesn't have to be about sustaining a brand or setting the stage for a multi-million dollar football career.  It can be about simply feeling better about ourselves.

We don't need to work so hard to create an image to make us feel better about ourselves.  That image is already inside us.  It was put there by a God who loves us no matter what we do or don't do; whether or not we win any races or Heismans, whether or not we have an awesome girlfriend.  I hope Lance and Te'o can move on and come to terms with the image of God within them. I hope the rest of us can do the same.

 

What I'm listening to in the new year

 Back on January 1 I fired up the DVR to watch some of the New Years Eve specials that I missed when I was out the night before making music of my own.  Ugh. I couldn't decide if these "musical acts" were intended to be a nod to all that was supposedly good in 2012, or some sort of exorcism of the worst of the last twelve months in order to begin 2013 with a clean slate. I think it was meant to be the former, but it sure felt like the latter.

It seems odd that, in an era when music of all genres and quality levels can be readily accessed via technological means (my favorite method of new discovery being Spotify), mainstream culture continues to stubbornly gravitate toward the lower end of the musical spectrum.  For the life of me, I can't figure out why this "sells." 

Still, though, there is hope.  When The Colbert Report has music, for instance, you can pretty much guarantee it's legit.  Case in point:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

I know, it was just the interview and not the music.  For some reason Colbert's website took it down. I guess in a sense that kind of negates my whole point. Dangit.

Anyway, the thing is that over the years I've been in the habit of sharing, for what it's worth, some of the music that's currently occupying my sonic airspace. As always, a short disclaimer: if you're looking for in-depth musical and lyrical analysis, you're probably not going to get it here.  I paint with broad strokes, so let it simply whet your appetite.  I welcome not only your thoughts on the bands and artists I highlight, but your own recommendations as well.

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MERCYLAND: HYMNS FOR THE REST OF US - Admit it: the title alone piques your interest.  It should.  I'm not typically a fan of compilations, but this one made a pretty quick jump from my free Spotify playlist to the iTunes catalog.  Think cutting edge artists of the day making music that is spiritual but not steeped in doctrine; opening the pearly gates wide rather than standing a big huge bouncer at the door.  Musically, you simply can't go wrong with the likes of The Civil Wars, Shawn Mullins, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Emmylou Harris.  Lyrically, you can't go wrong with songs like Mullins' "Give God The Blues:" God don't hate the Muslim / God don't hate the Jew / God don't hate the Christian / But we all give God the blues. Indeed we do, Shawn.  Maybe "the rest of us" needs to be "all of us."

 

CHRISTOPHER SMITH, EARNING KEEP - Man, those Canadiens can make some music.  Although this guy doesn't hail from the prolific Toronto scene (read: Arcade Fire, Barenaked Ladies, Broken Social Scene, The Most Serene Republic, etc) - he's a Vancouver boy that's vying to give the West Coast some props.  In a word - mellow.  For some reason I stumbled on his latest album I had a good friend mention his latest album, Earning Keep, while working on a sermon this past week at a New Years Eve dinner party.  Turns out its good sermonizing music. Usually I can't write and listen to someone singing, but this album is an exception.  Subtle vocals and ambient guitars that at times hint at Radiohead.  But again: mellow. Be advised. And I mean that in a good way.

THE LUMINEERS - The challenge for any new acoustic folk band breaking into the scene is to ride the wave created by the likes of Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons without sounding too much like Avett and Mumford.  It's not easy, but this trio from Denver does a pretty good job of it. Your foot will be tapping and you'll be singing along, but it won't be to "Little Lion Man" or "The Perfect Space."  Instead it will be to songs like "Submarine" or the catchy "Ho Hey."  This is one of those albums that I'll listen to in one sitting and immediately play it again, because the good vibe it left me with the first time is something I want to feel again.

 

THE GOAT RODEO SESSIONS - I could've easily gone with the more recent Punch Brothers album, but I decided to stick with this one since I already teased you a bit.  Forget that it's nearly nine months old - it's got Chris Thile in it, and anything that has Chris is timeless (in case you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit of a fan).  But here's the difference: for the first time in his young but already legendary career, and with all apologies to Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek, I think that with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bassist Edgar Meyer and violinist Stuart Duncan, Thile is finally among equals. He's that good, the others are that good, and this album is that good.  Call it bluegrass, call it folk americana, call it jazz, call it classical, call it whatever.  It's all of it, and it's delightful. All I need now is for Thile to release that Bach/Radiohead mandolin cover album he promised me when I met him back in 2010.

 

COLDPLAY: LIVE 2012 - Coldplay flirts dangerously close with being one of those bands I mentioned earlier, but the fact is that I still like them.  I think that, for a pop band, they come up with clever hooks and decent songwriting (that song with Rihanna being an exception).  This live album, which is also a full concert DVD, does a good job of capturing the band's live sound, which is when I personally think they're at their best.  It also represents a nice cross-section of their body of work over the past twelve years. I still prefer 2009's LeftRightLeftRightLeft (which apparently isn't available anymore, bummer), but you can't go wrong with this one. One note: there's an explicit edition where Chris Martin uncharacteristically drops the "F" bomb (why...?).  Get the other one - all the songs are still on there and you won't know that you've missed a thing.

 

GODSPEED YOU, BLACK EMPEROR!: ALLELUJAH! DON'T BEND! ASCEND! - Alright, this one's a bit of a curve ball, so get ready.  We're heading back up to Canada again; Montreal specifically.  It's a nine-piece (yep, you heard me) comprised of three guitars, two basses, two percussionists, and a violin.  No vocals.  The songs are anywhere between six and twenty minutes long and weave in and out of a dreamlike state.  Some songs are barely songs at all, at least in the classic sense: "Their Helicopters Sing" begins with some a high-pitched buzzing that morphs into a bagpipe-ish drone that lasts for a good five minutes.  There's a level of patience that's involved with listening to GYBE's music.  It's not for everyone, but that's the fun of music - listening and checking out to see if it is.

And a bonus:

DOUG DAVIS AND THE SOLID CITIZENS: A PAGEANT OF GOLD - I wrote what turned out to be the very first Amazon.com review for my good friend and former Mediocre Bad Guy bandmate's second album, and here's what I said:

If you're looking for cut-and-paste music with zero passion and production quality that sounds like it was created by your nephew in GarageBand....go somewhere else.

If you're looking for music that comes from the heart, vocals that exude soul, well-written and well-crafted songs, impeccable performance and production that is so spot-on that adding anything else or taking anything away would make the songs less than what they are, you've found the source of your next six bucks. And the beauty is that you'll wind up getting something worth much more than that.

I gave him five out of five stars, cause I'm that kinda guy.

******************

So, there you have it.  Give 'em a listen and let me know your thoughts.  And tell me what kind of music you're into these days.

And a quick heads-up: U2's apparently got a new album coming out in 2013. The new year is looking up already.

 

Take that, Mayans.