those awake

They Tell the Crazy Truth

awakening: by Shaun O.

I haven't seen Crazy Heart, but hope to soon. Tonight, I sit and listen to songs of crazy truth from the latest Laura Veirs album, July Flame. I nod my head to the beat - the kick and bass, and also the beats and beats of truth to which I cannot help but agree with movement. Sitting here in the dark, I began to think: what is going on here with Laura V.? What am I connecting to?

Well, I'm really also in a waiting pattern for the approaching Joanna Newsom album (couple weeks). Her music moves me in a similar way - Laura and Joanna are throwing sticks and rocks and swinging on swings at the same playground in my mind. Thus, I've broadened my test-group. What do I connect to both in JN and LV?

Crazy Truth.

Or, what would you call it? What's another name for colorful fiction that grips a truth in you that you barely knew was there?

Throw words around with me. We should be out on a playground too.

i am an atheist*

awake & listening: "Songs for a Revolution of Hope - Vol. 1" |  posted by Shaun O'Reilly
A song "drops" from the upcoming album being released along with McLaren's new book.  I seriously wonder what might come about if & when we sing songs like this.  It is a hopeful wondering!  :)

Geek Farm Life - Reality Check

awake & linking: GeekFarmLife  | posted by Shaun O'Reilly

Brian turned me on to this cool podcast a while back- Geek Farm Life.  I've listened on and off,  but they've got a really good new episode.  Basically, Andrew and Misty are techies from California, and they moved to a 10 acre farm in Indiana a few years ago.  They still have full time jobs, but they have been growing into caring more and more for their land and learning to live off of it; and this latest episode reveals that they hadn't necessarily planned it all that way when they moved. They give their normal updates about their farm (and honestly, you have to care about them or want to hear about it ... otherwise, it can get kind of dry from time to time), but then they do a segment called Reality Check - where they talk about expectations and the, now, real life on the farm. 
They mention changes in the way they view: their animals, their garden, their pace of life, their neighbors,  the work they must do together on the farm. 
I thought it was intriguing, especially if you've ever thought of living in the country.
I've begun to dream of it. 

And, while I needed this "reality check," I remain encouraged. 
(the way they describe their early gardens, I'd say we did a good job ourselves, a little while back!)

Follow this link to their podcast site - Episode 71 - and you can begin to listen. 
I recommend skipping to 23mins into the podcast - that is when they do the "Reality Check."

Epiphany, Polyphonically

awake & listening: The Fragile Army |  posted by Shaun O'Reilly

Just a quick note on the new Polyphonic Spree album that finally released this week:
Goodness.  Again, sheer goodness.  I've enjoyed it from the start, and I think it's my favorite album of theirs already!  To me, it is the most put together of their works.  STILL, I feel like I have to mention straight from the top that there remains something to be desired here.  I can't help but say that for all the creativity that the Spree exude, and the vast number of people in the band, I still want the songs to go places that they just never get to.  I want them to develop and mature more than they do ... but that's my only qualm with this record.  (my continuing qualm with all their records).  And, yet, with The Fragile Army they get closer and closer to maturity in songs and in an album.

But the basic deal with this band is that there is nobody like them, that I know of.  This music does pick you up, this band of people and music-makers pick you up with their voices and their tunes and there's no denying that.  You have to be completely dead to miss it; and it's a beautiful thing.  So while I want some of the arrangements to grow & go further, I can't fault this band full of wonder and excitement.  As Brian has convinced me, they are sensational live, and that is how it should be with their music and their message.  I fully support them.

I think I support them especially because they are LOCAL and they bring a unique message.  There's not much more I could ask for from around here.  I listen, and I think, "how can these guys sing such upbeat songs within the DFW region?  From whence do they draw their enlightenment?  I'm missing it in suburbia." 
And yet I think these guys would sing their songs of HOPE and JOY wherever they were.  Which begs the question, are they finding the HOPE and JOY ... or are they creating it?
Thoreau wrote,

“Whether he sleeps or wakes, whether he runs or walks, whether he uses a microscope or a telescope, or his naked eye, a man never discovers anything, never overtakes anything or leaves anything behind, but himself.  Whatever he says or does he merely reports himself.  If he is in love, he loves; if he is in heaven he enjoys, if he is in hell he suffers.  It is his condition that determines his locality. … Let us sing.”

And so then you have the Polyphonic Spree closing their latest album with an anthem called, "The Championship," and singing out:

“Someday the world will be one, if we try … somehow we will keep it alive.”

I feel like they might be choosing (and creating) love and enjoyment, and that gives me hope ... and good songs for my heart.

HOPE-ful music

awake & linking: Rafter's - HOPE  | posted by Shaun O'Reilly

The gathering at IBC tonight was about love and hope.  And, we taught about a type of endurance in the Zone (for kids) - "Let us not grow weary in doing good" - Gal. 6:9.  And Andy asked us pointedly, "who are the lepers in your life?  who is starved for love in your life?"

This reminded me of a great song, with really creative results to an online challenge.  Asthmatic Kitty records held a video contest: people were to choose one of three songs from the band Rafter and create a music video to it.  One particular song of theirs is called HOPE, and I love it.  It moves me every time.   And I was really impressed and surprised by some of the videos submitted for that song.  They are quality (to me).  I can't even decide which I  like more than the others, but these three woke me up and bring the song even further to life.  Thought I'd share the awakening moments:

modern jesus story

awake & listening: TAL |  posted by Shaun O'Reilly

Been meaning to post on this since Christmas ... but the story is just as good as a mid-january snack! 
I was truly awed by a short story I heard on the This American Life podcast (of NPR fame).  It ends up it was a repost/rebroadcast of some "holiday short stories" aired in december of 05.  The podcast is full of really good stories, but one stuck out to me - reached out, slappped me and picked me up gently all at once.  It's a story about Jesus in the modern day 6th grade, written and read by Heather O'Neill. 
I highly recommend it - it made me sit back and just think about the beauty of creativity, especially around one of the best subjects the world has ever known: Jesus of Nazareth.

To get to the audio, click here, then click on "05" in the left bar (as in the "05" archive) - the Holiday Spectacular is at the top of the list then, posted on 12/23/05, episode 305. 
It's streaming, but you can still skip ahead if you'd like to jump straight to the O'Neill story.  It's right at 23:00 mins into the audio, and runs till about 37:00 mins.

The Gospel According to Kanye?

awake & listening: kanye west & mars hill michigan

There is a fantastic series by Rob Bell & Don Golden at Mars Hill called "The New Exodus". It's available here in four parts. In part one, they explore systemic sin using conflict diamonds and Sierra Leone as an illustration. Don Golden was there when the Lome Peace Agreement was signed and he met a five year-old boy who'd been severely injured by a machete. I highly recommend listening to all four parts, but I couldn't stop thinking about how appropriate a couple of Kanye West references would've been.

Here's a taste from the "Diamonds Are Forever" remix featuring Jay-Z:

"Good Morning, this ain't Vietnam still People lose hands, legs, arms for real Little was known of Sierra Leone And how it's connected to the diamonds we own."

In another one of the messages in the series from Mars Hill, Rob and Don encourage the congregation to look at the "Made in" labels on their shirts and to call out the countries. "Cambodia!" "Honduras!" "China!" They go on to say that because they own these shirts, they are undeniably connected to that country, and to its workers. "What are the working conditions like? Do they get breaks? Insurance? How many hours a day do they work?" Their point is that we have a responsibility to avoid being a part of an oppressive empire, if indeed our economy is buttressed by the oppression of another people (as the Jews were by Egypt, the Canaanites by Solomon and the Jews again by the Babylonians).

"Though it's thousands of miles away Sierra Leone's connected to what we go through today. Over here, its a drug trade, we die from drugs. Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs. The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charmses; I thought my Jesus Piece was so harmless, 'til I seen a picture of a shorty armless."

My shirt tag says, "Made in Honduras." Yours?

technorati tags: SIERRA LEONE, KANYE WEST, MARS HILL, ROB BELL, DON GOLDEN

wake up east coast, WAKE UP!

awake & listening: sigur ros  | posted by Shaun O'Reilly

I watched the sun cast light on the east coast this morning.  Above is a snapshot of it. ...awesome. Sigur Ros & Walden accompanied me. 

"The change from storm and winter to serene and mild weather, from dark and sluggish hours to bright and elastic ones, is a memorable crisis which all things proclaim." Walden, the Spring chapter.

-s.o

technorati tags: SUNRISE,WALDEN, DAYTONA BEACH

does the sunrise make a sound?

awake & listening: sigur ros | posted by Shaun O'Reilly

I've been meaning to post on the Walden chapter Higher Laws.  This account is a fitting intro: One week ago today I experienced a Sigur Ros concert (along with a few of these contributing bloggers and other friends).  It was my third experience witnessing a live Sigur Ros show.  Each occasion has been unique, moving, and worthwhile, and this time it was cool to share the experience with so many other people I know - some quite new to this great band. 

Sigur Ros music fits on this blog, but the music and the live experience transcend this blog.  It is quite difficult to describe, translate, remark on, or explain much about Sigur Ros. 
You can read thoughts on the show from the Rheas or Bloguss, and I blogged (very short) on my 2nd time seeing them here.

One of my favorite accounts of their music was on NPR's All Things Considered on November 20, 2002.  It's obviously an old review  - of their album ( ) , but I completely & wholeheartedly agree with the reviewer's sense of the music.  It pertains to all of Sigur Ros' work.
He concludes,

"it's a little unfair that we have to make sense of these things - to deconstruct them and perhaps take away some of the wonder that  the music conjures.
I mean, Sigur Ros really do make beautiful music, and I'd sometimes prefer to simply stick to the pastoral metaphors, because the truth is there are times on this album, jibberish or not, that cannot be described in any other way except to say - it sounds ... like a sunrise..."

it surely does.

-s.o

technorati tags: SIGUR ROS, MUSIC, SUNRISE

*bright songs

| posted by Shaun O'Reilly

I'm still coming to terms with the latest Bright Eyes album, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.  I enjoy it on so many levels, and think it's worth mentioning here even simply & mostly because of it's title.  Why wouldn't an album named as such earn a mention on this here blog?! And, honestly, the album is for thinkers.  You have to listen to it over and over to begin to formulate some thoughts about what's going on.  The music is great enough to latch onto immediately - a uniquely transparent style.  But these are the kind of songs you turn on during a lazy Saturday afternoon; about mid-way through the album you catch a sly lyric in the 5th or 6th song that you never ever noticed before.  It causes one to slowly put down the armful of laundry from the dryer, stop feeding paper into the shredder, or drop the windex and wash towel to sit down on the nearest sitting "perch" one can find and just think about what one just heard.  ... Those are the good albums.  One loves them.

A particularly haunting lyric, that I think can be considered in terms of the forces of _Walden_, is from the album's opening song, At the Bottom of Everything:

Oh my morning's coming back
The whole world’s waking up
All the city buses swimming past
I’m happy just because
I found out I am really no one

Struggling, desperate, and "life-like" are sure descriptions of this Bright Eyes album.  That's why I think there is a hint of awakening there.  Toward the end of Where I lived and What I lived for Thoreau writes, "Be it life or death, we crave only reality."  There's the parallel.  In thought, writing, or song - if we communicate truth & reality (whether truth of "life or death") - we are awake. 

technorati tags: BRIGHT EYES, I'M WIDE AWAKE IT'S MORNING, WALDEN