You know you're a small time musician when you have to worry about hitting a deer on the way to your gig.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Left leaning churches, the FCC...
and the desire to control the media through hate speech regulations. Read it here.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Did you ever notice...
that the people who advocate population reductions as a cure for global warming always seem to want somebody else to be the person "reduced". After all if you really believe that an excess of breathing humans is an environmental disaster there are any number of ways you can stop.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Preliminary reports...
are indicating that the recent meeting of the Antiochian Archdiocesan Board of Trustees and Synod of Bishops has resulted in a decision to have an "internal" audit of the Archdiocese's finances, the return of Bishop Demetri to retirement, and the redirection of the manual for bishops to a committee.
Bishop Demetri, who was convicted several years ago of a sexual offense, had been retired and was quietly returned to a position with the Archdiocese of Mexico and the Caribbean with his salary paid for through the Archdiocese in the US. If the tentative information is true he will return to retirement.
An internal audit of the Archdiocese's finances, if the preliminary reports are correct, is not the external audit that many have requested but it, depending on the nature of those selected to conduct it, could be a step forward to greater transparency and trust in Archdiocesan finances.
The manual of hierarchical responsibilities, depending on how it was worded, could have become a divisive document and its postponement to committee may also be related to the development of such a manual by the Holy Synod of Antioch.
For more information go to ocanews.org.
Keep us in your prayers.
Bishop Demetri, who was convicted several years ago of a sexual offense, had been retired and was quietly returned to a position with the Archdiocese of Mexico and the Caribbean with his salary paid for through the Archdiocese in the US. If the tentative information is true he will return to retirement.
An internal audit of the Archdiocese's finances, if the preliminary reports are correct, is not the external audit that many have requested but it, depending on the nature of those selected to conduct it, could be a step forward to greater transparency and trust in Archdiocesan finances.
The manual of hierarchical responsibilities, depending on how it was worded, could have become a divisive document and its postponement to committee may also be related to the development of such a manual by the Holy Synod of Antioch.
For more information go to ocanews.org.
Keep us in your prayers.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Some of the worst...
tattoos in the world can be found here. I've never thought of anything I'd like to tack on my body forever and I'm afraid anything now is just destined to slide down as the years march on.
Apparently...
the BBC has now changed its mind on global warming. Apparently they were noticing all the snow and record cold temperatures around the world. Ya think?
Riverview Cafe...
We had the chance to play an open mic last night at the Riverview Cafe in Minneapolis. We were a duo, Ross and I, and because we were new we had the chance to jump up in the list and get on stage for our three songs before the event closed.
An open mic often draws singer/songwriter types who wish to try out material with an audience and this night was no exception. The problem is, though, that so many of the songs are, in effect, the emesis of some personal tragedy or larger global concern. If rock and roll can be critiqued for being too trite folk music could also be critiqued for taking itself to seriously. I wish I had a nickel for every time someone stood up on stage at an open mic and said "I wrote this song in a very hard time for me...", or "I'm so concerned about the environment that I just had to write this song..." which unfortunately sounds like all the other protest songs on the topic. Maybe that's what is meant by reduce, reuse, recycle.
Ross and I, though, we keep our emotional baggage to ourselves and we save cans without singing about it. Our set was swingy, light, Cajun, and made people feel like dancing. Not a shred of heartbreak, not a single emotional crisis, and it was like air was let into the room for the first time. Come to think of it maybe that was our message.
Anyway, we'll be back and next time I want to see some people dance.
An open mic often draws singer/songwriter types who wish to try out material with an audience and this night was no exception. The problem is, though, that so many of the songs are, in effect, the emesis of some personal tragedy or larger global concern. If rock and roll can be critiqued for being too trite folk music could also be critiqued for taking itself to seriously. I wish I had a nickel for every time someone stood up on stage at an open mic and said "I wrote this song in a very hard time for me...", or "I'm so concerned about the environment that I just had to write this song..." which unfortunately sounds like all the other protest songs on the topic. Maybe that's what is meant by reduce, reuse, recycle.
Ross and I, though, we keep our emotional baggage to ourselves and we save cans without singing about it. Our set was swingy, light, Cajun, and made people feel like dancing. Not a shred of heartbreak, not a single emotional crisis, and it was like air was let into the room for the first time. Come to think of it maybe that was our message.
Anyway, we'll be back and next time I want to see some people dance.
Please pray...
for the Synod and Board of Trustees now meeting in Houston, Texas. Many around the Antiochian Archdiocese, myself included, are watching and waiting in the hope these meetings will produce a new era of accountability, transparency, and hope. The effects of the decisions made today and tomorrow will be far reaching so we pray the Holy Spirit's presence with thos gathered.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Thrift stores...
I've been fortunate, in one sense, because I was raised without the need to appear in whatever the culture says is the current uniform and never had the suburban affliction of being afraid to be seen in Wal Marts and thrift stores.
The truth is I like to hunt for the bargains and there's a certain joy in finding something special in a shirt for less then three bucks. I have a whole wardrobe of Eddie Bauer stuff and I'd be surprised if I paid more than $30 for the whole lot. Last night I bought an Eddie Bauer sweater and shirt for less then $8 and a dress shirt for work, great condition and one wash away from being mine, for $2.99. It's amazing what people throw away and a wise person can capitalize on other's waste.
There's a morbid part of it for me as well as I can have a tendency to a black sense of humor and often call what I wear "dead guy shirts" because I know someone probably passed away, especially in the case of the better stuff, and I'm reaping what the family sowed. But such is the nature of things and I know that one day when I have shed away this mortal coil my clothes will also find their way to the thrift store. It's the circle of life don'tcha know and I feed in it now and it will feed on me later. Cue Elton John.
It's also kind of a protest against the way of things in this world. I get caught up in it, for sure, but sometimes I just like to stick a thumb in the eye of the idea that life is just a never ending round of purchases dictated by some folks somewhere out there in the ether who are labeled as "trend setters". They've convinced people to change and throw away not for the good but for the whim and I'll profit from their insanity by keeping both my head and my hard earned money in this man made hurricane.
Huzzah and excelsior! Fellow cheapskates and dissidents of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains and you're one wash away from starving the beast.
The truth is I like to hunt for the bargains and there's a certain joy in finding something special in a shirt for less then three bucks. I have a whole wardrobe of Eddie Bauer stuff and I'd be surprised if I paid more than $30 for the whole lot. Last night I bought an Eddie Bauer sweater and shirt for less then $8 and a dress shirt for work, great condition and one wash away from being mine, for $2.99. It's amazing what people throw away and a wise person can capitalize on other's waste.
There's a morbid part of it for me as well as I can have a tendency to a black sense of humor and often call what I wear "dead guy shirts" because I know someone probably passed away, especially in the case of the better stuff, and I'm reaping what the family sowed. But such is the nature of things and I know that one day when I have shed away this mortal coil my clothes will also find their way to the thrift store. It's the circle of life don'tcha know and I feed in it now and it will feed on me later. Cue Elton John.
It's also kind of a protest against the way of things in this world. I get caught up in it, for sure, but sometimes I just like to stick a thumb in the eye of the idea that life is just a never ending round of purchases dictated by some folks somewhere out there in the ether who are labeled as "trend setters". They've convinced people to change and throw away not for the good but for the whim and I'll profit from their insanity by keeping both my head and my hard earned money in this man made hurricane.
Huzzah and excelsior! Fellow cheapskates and dissidents of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains and you're one wash away from starving the beast.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Woke up this morning...
with a fine dusting of global warming on the grass and roof. No sense washing the car yesterday because I knew it was coming.
Most of the trees are still green, some are flecked with color, but imagine their surprise at what came in the night. If this keeps up it could be a long winter. Is there ever a short one in these parts? But my couch is comfortable and the cat on the other end is snoring the morning away, tail tucked around head, whiskers twitching as it dreams.
Life is full of small blessings, a night of sleep, a morning with sun, a place that's warm to stay in, a hundred things that pass us by in the ordinary business of life. But on a Saturday morning when a powdering of snow catches the sun through the clouds one quiet moment brings it to mind.
And now to the day.
Most of the trees are still green, some are flecked with color, but imagine their surprise at what came in the night. If this keeps up it could be a long winter. Is there ever a short one in these parts? But my couch is comfortable and the cat on the other end is snoring the morning away, tail tucked around head, whiskers twitching as it dreams.
Life is full of small blessings, a night of sleep, a morning with sun, a place that's warm to stay in, a hundred things that pass us by in the ordinary business of life. But on a Saturday morning when a powdering of snow catches the sun through the clouds one quiet moment brings it to mind.
And now to the day.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Pastors packing heat...
in church. The wave of crimes in churches have some clergy giving new meaning to the words "piece be with you..." After the recent Midwest Parish Life Conference where armed guards were present to protect our Bishop Mark from a threat by a parishioner at a Michigan church, this story is not an abstraction. Who knows what disgruntled soul with a gun could step into any church?
The point, though, is moot for Orthodox clergy. We, unlike Protestant clergy, cannot carry weapons. Although a holster would fit nicely under the epigonation (For those who aren't Orthodox an epigonation is a diamond shaped vestment worn on the right hip).
Just kidding folks.
The point, though, is moot for Orthodox clergy. We, unlike Protestant clergy, cannot carry weapons. Although a holster would fit nicely under the epigonation (For those who aren't Orthodox an epigonation is a diamond shaped vestment worn on the right hip).
Just kidding folks.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
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