Lower Still

We had a really spectacular sermon at church last Sunday. Ray preached on how Christmas is about the humility of God; how low he came to make himself like us, to be among us, to save us. And yet being born to young Mary in the dusty dark of a Bethlehem barn was just the beginning of Christ's humility. He would come lower still. As low as you've ever been, Christ went lower in order in love you into the arms of God. Ray read the lyrics of a song by the band My Epic. They moved me so much, I just had to share them here.

***

"Lower Still"

Look, he's covered in dirt
the blood of his mother has mixed with the Earth
and she's just a child who's throbbing in pain
from the terror of birth by the light of a cave

Now they've laid that small baby
where creatures come eat
like a meal for the swine, who have no clue that he
is still holding together the world that they see
they don't know just how low he has to go
Lower still

Look now he's kneeling, he's washin' their feet
though they're all filthy fishermen, traitors, and theives
now he's pouring his heart out and they're fallin' asleep
but he has to go lower still

there is greater love to show
hands to the plow
further down now
blood must flow

all these steps are personal
all his shame is ransom
oh do you see, do you see just how low, he has come
do you see it now?
no one takes from him
what he freely gives away

beat in his face
tear the skin off his back
Lower still, lower still
strip off his clothes
make him crawl through the streets
Lower still, lower still
hang him like meat
on a criminal's tree
Lower still, lower still
bury his corpse in the Earth
like a seed, like a seed, like a seed
Lower still, lower still

Lower still, lower still...

The Earth explodes
she cannot hold him!
And all therein is placed beneath Him
and death itself no longer reigns
it cannot keep the ones he gave himself to save
and as the universe shatters the darkness disolves
he alone will be honored
we will bathe in his splendor
as all heads bow lower still
all heads bow lower still

Cradle Hymn

I was reading to Hudson from his "Lullaby Baby" book and couldn't get through this one without getting all choked up. I just want to pray the last stanza for him every day!

Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber,

Holy angels guard thy bed.

Heavenly blessings without number,

Gently falling on thy head.

How much better thou'rt attended,

Than the Son of God could be,

When from heaven He descended,

And became a child like thee.

Soft and easy is they cradle,

Coarse and hard thy Savior lay,

When His birthplace was a stable,

And His softest bed was hay.

May'st thou learn to know and fear Him,

Love and serve Him all thy days;

Then to dwell forever near Him,

Tell His love and sing His praise.

To Make You Feel My Love

This song is on Hudson's sleepy playlist. It's a Bob Dylan song. I'm partial to Garth Brooks' version, but the one on the iPod is Adele. I have always loved this song, and I like thinking of it as words from God to us, although I'm not sure that's what Bob had in mind at the time.

But when I sing it to Hudson, I can't help but get choked up thinking about it as a love song from me to him. Of course, it doesn't all apply; I won't always make him happy and I can't make his dreams come true, though I can encourage him and offer guidance and prayers. But the rest of it is pretty much right on the money. I would hold him for a million years. Although I suppose when he's a teenager he might be over that... I'll just have to sneak in to his room at night and hold him while he sleeps. (Ten points to you if you know that's a reference to "Love You Forever," the children's book every mother of a son MUST own.)

So here you go, baby boy. I hope you feel my love for you every day of your precious life.

When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love

When the evening shadows and the stars appear
And there is no one there to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love

I know you haven’t made your mind up yet
But I would never do you wrong
I’ve known it from the moment that we met
No doubt in my mind where you belong

I’d go hungry, I’d go black and blue
I’d go crawling down the avenue
There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do
To make you feel my love

The storms are raging on the rollin’ sea
And on the highway of regret
The winds of change are blowing wild and free
You ain’t seen nothing like me yet

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn’t do
Go to the ends of the earth for you
To make you feel my love

Bye Bye Bookstores: A Prediction

Where do you go to buy music?

If you're under, I don't know, 35, your first instinct is probably to iTunes or Amazon. On the off occasion that you want an actual CD, you might still buy it off Amazon, or you might check Target or Wal-Mart. If it's a little more obscure and you're feeling hip, you might go to Grimey's, or your local equivalent of the indie hole-in-the-wall.

Know where you don't go? Tower Records. Or Virgin Records. Know why? They don't exist. Not anymore. Not in this country, anyway. The last Tower Records store closed in 2006, including the infamous one in West Hollywood. Virgin Records shut down their last remaining stores - including the huge flagship location in Times Square - in 2009. (Both chains still operate international franchises and as online retailers.)

Now, on to my next question.

Where do you go to buy books?

The answer to this question five years from now might be eerily similar to what you'd say about buying music today. I currently work in a chain book store, and everywhere I look, I see the sad parallels to what happened to music retail.

Here's why I think book stores are headed down that same road. I broke down my thoughts by equating the major players in music retail with their counterparts in book retail.

Kindle (and all its competitors, including the iPad) = iPod (and all its competitors)

The book industry pretended for too long, as did the record industry before it, that the digital revolution would never be enough to affect physical product sales. The record industry was wrong. So was the publishing industry. Amazon now sells more ebooks for its Kindle than it does paperbacks. "I still prefer holding a real book; I could never read off of a computer screen all day." Tell that to your CD collection, wherever it sits collecting dust. I can remember saying essentially the same thing when iPods were first introduced, scoffing at the idea that someone would want to buy something without having a physical item to show for it.

Amazon = iTunes

Low prices and no real competition worked for iTunes with mp3s, and it works for Amazon with eBooks. Funnily enough, now it is Apple who wants a share of what Amazon has cooking, hoping the iPad and iBooks can take a bite out of Amazon's monster ebook market share.

Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, Sams = Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, Sams

Amazon has the additional advantage of also selling physical product, for cheaper than you can find it in a store. If you do want it from a store, you're going to go to a big box retailer. You can pick your favorite, but from the perspective of the dying bookstore, they're all villains. Did you know big box retailers sell music and books for a loss? 50% off that just-released best-seller is merely a way to get you in the door. They'll gladly take the hit there, while you fill your cart with other stuff. $14 instead of $19, plus you can pick up toothpaste and new shoes? Who wouldn't take that deal?

Indie Bookstores = Indie Record Stores

Maybe you're a buy-local advocate. Maybe the thought of shopping at the Evil Empire turns your socially-conscious stomach. That's okay. There will still be indie bookstores. There just won't be as many of them. And they will struggle to stay in business. And they'll most-likely cater to a particular niche of reader. And they won't always have what you're looking for. But the ones that breed loyalty and maintain a cult-following will still be around, as a haven for old souls. Which leads me to...

Real Books = Vinyl (and, for now, still CDs)

Music freaks still love their vinyl. They like the way it sounds. They like the way it feels. They like that it is cool to have a record player. And real books? They'll become the LPs of book lovers. Or, for now, at least the CDs of book lovers and people who roll old-school. Plenty of people with iPods still buy the occasional CD, and plenty of vinyl-enthusiasts also have iPods. There's room for overlap. Books aren't going to disappear or stop being printed. But the ebook revolution has officially arrived. And it's not going to disappear, either.

Borders, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million = Virgin Records, Tower Records

So we come to this. Will bookstores, like the one you might go to if you needed a book today, go the way of the record store? Every argument to the contrary is an echo of the now-defunct reasons people gave 10 years ago for why record store chains wouldn't go under. It's starting already. Both Borders and Barnes & Noble closed stores in the past year, no doubt with more to come, and rumors of bankruptcy swirl around one or the other ever week.

Bigger and brighter and more economic and industry-savvy minds than mind have been looking at this issue for a while. What do you think? Where do you buy your books and your music? Have you joined the ebook revolution?

That's You In There!

Sweet Baby James,

Hey there little guy! Your auntie Ashley was requesting some new pics to see how you're growing so this weekend we went out and took a few. That's you in that bump!

We also played some music for you with headphones on my tummy. Well, okay, actually I put the earbuds in my belly-button. When we get serious about your musical education we'll bust out Dad's noise-cancelling Bose headphones. But this worked in a pinch! You kicked around and seemed to like it! Here was your first playlist:

Umbrellas -- Sleeping at Last

Needle & Thread -- Sleeping at Last

Awake My Soul -- Mumford & Sons

Timshel -- Mumford & Sons

Come Thou Fount -- Sufjan Stevens

Indescribable -- Chris Tomlin

How He Loves -- David Crowder Band

Soon we will be starting childbirth classes to learn about how to get you from in there to out here. Yikes!

Love, Momma

Ben's Addiction

I went into Ben's studio earlier this evening to look for a camera cable. I found it, stuck under a guitar. As I moved the instrument out of the way, I realized that there were guitars EVERYWHERE. I knew he had several, but it is like they've been secretly breeding in there. I had to document it with my camera and, well, the evidence speaks for itself.








If you're counting with us, that's NINE. And these are just the ones that I could SEE. Now to Ben's credit, at least two of those cases photographed were empty. However, I also know that there are at least two guitars of his that are packed away elsewhere and not pictured here, so. Yeah. It evens out. But I love that he loves his guitars, and I even love that they're laying around everywhere, and that he somehow sneaks them into the house without my knowledge. Just like a proper addict.

Besides, I actually have my own little guitar, and, not to brag, but I'm wicked awesome at it.

Easy level, what what!

Coldplay's "Strawberry Swing" and its Music Video Muses

Twitter was a-buzz today with kudos for the new Coldplay video. It IS pretty awesome, and you can see it here. (I couldn't find a good embeddable version.)

I wasn't completely overwhelmed, however, because it so reminded me of Oren Lavie's beautiful stop-motion video for the song "Her Morning Elegance."



I first saw the video in this post from Inkdryer's blog. Coldplay obviously turned it up a notch with the crazy cool chalk animation but I like the way the other video used the real items as props, like the sock fish.

And, while we're at it, someone already fought psychotic squirrels in a music video, and that someone was David Crowder. Case in point.

PS. Sorry, I fail at blogging lately. I will try not to wait two weeks between posts again!

To Hear the Angels Sing

I have mentioned before here when I've blogged about music that I love when an artist redoes a familiar song in a way that makes it new again. This has been true for me on numerous occassions with hymns, and I find it especially powerful for Christmas hymns.

On the one hand, the familiarity of Christmas hymns is part of their charm. They haven't changed; their words and melodies ring true as ever and usher in the anticipation of the season. But on the other hand, they are in danger of becoming meaningless, as the words tumble over our lips without much thought to what they mean anymore. The wonder and captivating beauty of what the songs are celebrating gets lost somehow.

So I wanted to share today how one such song became new to me again. I was never a big fan of "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" anyway - the melody is kind of awkward and gets really high, and it just didn't pack the emotional punch of some of my favorites. But yesterday I was listening to Sara Groves' new Christmas album and her version of the song totally captured my attention. By the end I was crying, overcome by the lovely old words and the sweet hope they proclaimed.

You must listen to Sara's version of the song on her myspace page. Click the link and then in the music player select the Christmas album and find "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear." I hope it moves you as it did me. Here are the beautiful lyrics to the hymn in case you need a reminder.

It came upon a midnight clear

That glorious song of old

From angels bending near the earth

To touch their harps of gold;

“Peace on the earth, good will to men,

From Heaven’s all gracious King.”

The world in solemn stillness lay,

To hear the angels sing.

And ye beneath life’s crushing load,

Whose forms are bending low,

Who toil along the climbing way

With painful steps and slow,

Look now! for glad and golden hours

Come swiftly on the wing.

O rest beside the weary road,

And hear the angels sing!

Still through broken skies they come

With peaceful wings unfurled,

And still their heavenly music floats

O’er all the weary world.

Above its sad and lowly plains,

They bend on hovering wing,

And ever over its Babel sounds

The blessèd angels sing.

What a beautiful message! So many centuries ago, the angels spilled forth from heaven to proclaim the good news - not just that Jesus was born, but that God desired to reconcile with His children. They sing it still, o'er all the weary world, above our noise and fear and sadness, if only we will listen. We have such a great hope. Look now! Our salvation comes, riding on the dawn...

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

My Thanksgiving weekend was a little non-traditional. Since Ben's ability to take vacation time is somewhat limited, we decided to take advantage of a sure-thing-four-day-weekend and get out of town. Just the two of us. It was our first trip like that since our honeymoon three and a half years ago! So while we forfeited our typical trip home to St. Louis to see family, we tried to incorporate some of the Thanksgiving standards like food and football...

Thursday we left Nashville and headed east towards Asheville... you wouldn't believe the confusion that caused people when we told them about our trip, since those two words obviously sound a lot alike! We occupied ourselves during the drive by listening to all the songs on my iPod in alphabetical order. When we got bored with that (around letter D) we switched to listening to episodes of Arrested Development, which was quite entertaining.

We arrived after a twisting and turning drive through the mountains to our destination: the Inn on Mill Creek, a bed & breakfast in Black Mountain, NC. We would highly recommend it if you are interested in staying in that area! It was really secluded... so much so that instead of a street address we had to put the longitude/latitude coordinates into our GPS to get there! Dave & Brigette, the innkeepers, were really great and so helpful. Plus Dave's breakfasts were delicious!

That night we had a proper Thanksgiving dinner at another local B&B that has a restaurant. There was turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots, pumpkin pie - the works. We definitely didn't miss out in the food department!

Over the next couple days we had fun exploring Black Mountain and Asheville. While in the area we visited the famous Biltmore Estate, the largest private home ever constructed in the United States. It was built in the late 1890s by heir to the Vanderbilt fortunes. It was interesting and beautiful, although crowded and a little touristy.
We had more fun taking silly pictures outside on the beautiful terrace as the sun was setting...
We had a fun day in Asheville after we finished at the Biltmore. We googled "best burger in Asheville" and were directed by our GPS way across town to a hole-in-the-wall joint called Burgermeister. No, really. We were a little skeptical as we wove through some sketchy looking parts of town, but we ended up in a neighborhood called West Asheville, full of funky shops and cool finds. And Burgermeister delivered. If you know me, you know I am not a big red meat girl. No real reason - I'm not offended by the eating of cows, but I just prefer chicken. But when you go to a place called Burgermeister and it is advertised as the best burger in town... well, you know what they say. When in Rome...

I swear to you after eating this delicious burger I could feel my body respond, thanking me profusely for the intake of iron. I felt stronger... I now had the strength of a grown human and a bit of cow. (Ahem, Dwight Schrute reference.)

After we rolled out of there and stopped at some of the shops, it was cold and icky and rainy and we decided to go see a movie. Ben oh-so-graciously accompanied me to see Twilight. I loved it even more the third (yes, third, don't judge me!) time around and to my surprise and delight Ben said he liked it too! Most of that can probably be contributed to the fact that he likes ME and is a good husband, but still. I'll take what I can get, and if he says he liked it then I'll believe him!

Saturday night we holed up in our room and watched the OU-OSU game. It was a nail-biter at times but my Sooners were victorious, winning 61-41. With their win, the three-way tie for the Big XII South was in place, and I had to wait until Sunday afternoon when the BCS standings were released to find out that OU was officially headed to the conference championship game to face Mizzou! I know a lot of people were disappointed in the way things turned out and believed that Texas earned the shot at the title by beating OU on neutral ground in the Red River game. Of course I disagree and would argue that OU's margin of victory in defeating ranked opponents is enough merit. But either way it is decided now and I am ecstatic that we will get our chance to win the Big XII and go to the National Championship game! Boomer Sooner!

As if all that wasn't enough excitement, we ended our Thanksgiving weekend by rushing back to Nashville through awful rain and traffic to get to the Ryman Auditorium in time to catch the Jason Mraz concert.

It was a fun show - very high energy and lots of crowd interaction. I was especially impressed with Lisa Hannigan, who was his opening act. She is an Irish musician probably best known for her vocals on many Damien Rice songs. She has a beautiful voice and played lots of interesting instruments in cool arrangements. But once again my concert experience was slightly marred by an annoying drunken person. This time it was a hippie dippy lush seated next to Ben... well, seated isn't the right term, considering she spent the entire concert dancing awkwardly and flailing around spilling beer on people. She also was trying to hang all over and sort-of flirt with Ben, for which I served her up a few dirty looks laced with the clear message of "Keep your damn drunken hands off my man." Ugh. Ben handled it nicely; he has lots of experience with that sort of person from his many stints at Bonarroo!

Anyway, aside from that it was a fun show and a great end to a rather nice holiday weekend!

100th Post! 100 Things I Like...

This is my 100th post on this blog! Little did I know all those years ago that I would be having this much fun sharing all my random thoughts with the world... or at least with my mom and the five other people who regularly read this blog.

I decided I would do a post about 100 random things I like... in no order, no rhyme or reason... These are not my top 100 things, or an exhaustive list of things I like. I just typed out everything as it came to me, and sometimes saying one thing I liked made me think of something else. Also I did some linking in case you like these things too.

Now on to the list!

1. Sleeping with lots of pillows
2. Baby name books
3. Libraries
4. Popcorn at the movie theater
5. Writing blogs
6. Shel Silverstein
7. Swimming
8. Artisan & Craft fairs
9. Leggings
10. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
11. Red airheads
12. Getting stupid-excited about the Twilight movie
13. Kristin Wiig on SNL
14. Driving
15. Chubby cheeks on babies
16. Scalding-hot showers
17. Really bright red fall trees
18. Taking pictures
19. Target
20. Shredding papers
21. Guinea pigs
22. The music of Leeland, especially "Sound of Melodies"
23. Watching figure skating
24. My graphic designers I work with
25. Cookies & Cream icecream from Braum's
26. Snow
27. The really snarky writing on Gossip Girl
28. Exclamation points
29. Writing and receiving real letters
30. When Heather calls at 9 pm and asks if I want to go to Sonic
31. The movie "Can't Hardly Wait"
32. Estee Lauder's Beautiful Sheer & Ralph Lauren Romance perfumes
33. Garth Brooks
34. Hugging my dad after I haven't seen him in a long time
35. Acoustic guitar driven music
36. Celebrity gossip
37. Scruffy and how cute he is
38. The St. Louis Zoo
39. LOST
40. Daydreaming of working for a really cool company like Google or Pixar
41. T-shirts with pockets
42. Fresh flowers
43. Calvin & Hobbes
44. Knowing all the words to Kanye West's "Golddigger"
45. Re-reading books I love
46. The words to hymns
47. Michaelangelo's Pieta
48. Holidays
49. Having parties at my house
50. 1 John 3:1
51. Horses
52. Going to art museums and remembering all the art history I learned
53. Apples with peanut butter
54. My momma
55. Traveling to new places
56. Being barefoot
57. Getting a haircut
58. Fuji Apple Chicken Salad from Panera
59. Baz Luhrmann movies
60. The city of Chicago
61. Cello
62. Being goofy with Ben
63. Scrapbooking
64. Shopping for scrapbooking stuff
65. Potatoes
66. Children's books
67. Going to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game in Busch Stadium
68. Headbands
69. Cute flat shoes
70. Quoting shows and movies I love
71. Steve Carell
72. Purple irises
73. My red purse
74. When kids say funny things
75. French fries from Kriegers with extra seasoning
76. Mountains
77. Doing laundry
78. Being "outdoorsy" through kayaking
79. When people have a funny laugh
80. Office supplies
81. My friend Rob & his family
82. Jason Mraz
83. Watching college football
84. Finding people on Facebook and looking at their pictures
85. When Jesus heals the little girl in Mark 5
86. The smell of outside in the spring
87. Milk
88. When my whole family is together at Christmas
89. Wearing jeans
90. Nicknames
91. Reading in the bathroom
92. Chips and cheese dip
93. Falling asleep to rain and thunder
94. Mark Rothko's color field paintings
95. Looking at beautiful wedding pictures
96. The X-Files
97. Getting a pedicure
98. Needtobreathe
99. Natural lighting
100. Taking naps

A Little Friday Randomness

Song that makes me drive like an insane person

I love driving on the highway to tobyMac's "The Slam." Especially in Ben's little Honda Fit. I can't help going crazy fast and weaving in and out of traffic like I'm in a movie car chase scene when that song comes on. Man! So I try not to listen to it very often, because I have a perfect driving record to maintain.

Color I am digging right now

I have purchased about 5 purple shirts and sweaters in the past few months. Just yesterday at Target I got this super deep indigo sweater. Love it. Next I would like to get some crazy adorable purple accessories... like headbands and gloves and some shoes.

Funnest Ads of the Season

I got the recent issue of Vanity Fair and it had a huge spread of Gap's adorable winter ads featuring a super random assortment of celebrities all bundled up in Gap's traditionally colorful sweaters and scarves. They have done a similar campaign for the past couple years and I love it. The ads are cute and funny and happy and warm and very Gap. The one with the SNL guys? Perfection. And, PS, Jason Sudekis is pretty good lookin'. Oh, and the one with Jason Bateman and his precious daughter? Too cute. And, PS, Jason Bateman is very good lookin'.

And, let's face it, these ads are doing their job. Because I haven't been in a Gap in years but this totally makes me want to go buy a scarf. Maybe they have a purple one.

At Long Last: Sleeping at Last

It is pretty late so forgive me if this is a less than eloquently written entry. But I couldn't NOT write about the concert I was just at while it was so fresh in my mind, so here goes.

If you've ever listened to anything I've ever said on this blog ever, listen to this: Sleeping at Last is a band you should know - and once you know them, one you will love.

Two brothers and their friend, all hailing from the Chicago area, make up the trio that is Sleeping at Last. I hardly believed there were only three of them in the group until I saw them in person. They just produce so much sound for so few people! Of course by "sound" I mean so much more than noise. Their songs are lush, rich, full. The band members themselves are industrious, with the lead singer switching back and forth between keys and guitar (at one point playing both on the same song, I kid you not) and the bassist/keyboardist/looper/pedal pusher doing so many things at once I lost count. The drummer kept himself busy too, at several intervals shaking his little heart out with one hand and knocking the snot out of the toms with the other.

The best part about this show was that they were joined by a guest string quintet. The band uses a lot of orchestration on their cd and to hear the full effect with the strings live was unreal.

And the craziest part? These guys could not look less like rock stars. I present you Exhibit A, the lead singer:

I dare you to envision what you think his voice might sound like and then go visit their MySpace page and listen to some of their songs. He is so unassuming looking - like any random baby-faced twenty-something you might pick out of a coffee shop - and then he opens his mouth and out comes this insanely unique and lovely voice.

Did you think I was done gushing yet? Well too bad because we're just getting to the good stuff - their lyrics! The songwriting is so different - he finds this way to string together all these really great, unique and visual words in a subtly striking way. And then, as if sounding cool wasn't enough, the words have such great - even worshipful - meaning. So I'll leave you with the words from one of my favorite songs, Needle & Thread. And for the love of all that is good, just go listen to their music okay? I'll loan you my CD.

Needle & Thread

When the world welcomes us in
We're closer to Heaven than we'll ever know
They say this place has changed
But strip away all of the technology
And you will see
That we all are hunters
Hunting for something that will make us okay.

Here we lay alone in hospital beds
Tracing life in our heads
But all that is left
Is that this was our entrance and now it's our exit
As we find our way home

All the blood and all the sweat
That we invested to be loved
Follows us into our end
Where we begin to understand
That we are made of love
And all the beauty stemming from it
We are made of love
And every fracture caused by the lack of it

"You were a million years of work,"
Said God and His angels, with needle and thread.
They kissed your head and said,
"You're a good kid and you make us proud.
So just give your best and the rest will come,
And we'll see you soon."

All the blood and all the sweat
That we invested to be loved
Follows us into our end,
Where we begin to understand

That maybe Hollywood was right:
When the credits have rolled and the tears have dried,
The answers that we have been dying to find
Are all pieced together and, somehow,
Made perfectly mine.

We are made of love,
And all the beauty stemming from it.
We are made of love,
And every fracture caused by the lack of love.

Observations from a Long Drive

Yesterday I drove myself home from St. Louis to Nashville. It was a beautiful fall afternoon and I had a good six hours to myself. Well, Scruffy was in the car with me but he's not much for conversation. So I listened to all the music I wanted to and came up with some very random observations which I will share with you now.

***

1. Heartland
There is something really spectacular about rolling fields of wheat and corn and how it all glows and moves under fall sun and wind. Green and gold and brown, just folding out in squares across the landscape, dotted with a farm here, a little pond there...

When my sister was younger, she had this fascination with running in a field. Every time we passed an open pasture area she would sigh and say how she wished Dad would stop the car so she could just go run in that field. Yesterday, driving under an open sky of brilliant blue and through the beauty of the American Heartland, I totally know what she meant.

2. Airheads
I really love Airheads candy. This is odd because I am not a fan of fruity candies usually, and I don't really like taffy or anything like that. But I love Airheads. I could eat about a hundred red ones and still want more.


3. "Stand By Me," sung by Ben E. King
I decided after listening to it for the millionth time that "Stand By Me" is one of the greatest love songs ever. It is utterly simple - the words, the instrumentation, the structure. But good grief is it romantic - and even a little sexy, with the "bum, bum, ba-da bum bum" rhythm. Stand by me, no matter what else happens, and we'll be okay. Man, that's good stuff.

4. National Dead Deer Weekend?
I don't know what the deal was, but yesterday I saw probably - no exaggeration - more than 15 deer and/or partial deer carcasses lining the highway across my 300 mile drive. In my nearly eight years of driving back and forth between Nashville and STL I have never experienced this. One dead deer laying by the side of the road, unpleasant but it happens. But halves of deers and decapitated deers and bloody smears formerly known as deers... ugh. It got to be really gross and had me wondering what was going on with the deer population's sudden and tragic love affair with my particular stretch of highway?!

5. Vampire Weekend
I had Ben load their much-ballyhooed debut album up on my iPod and around Paducah decided to have a listen...

I give them an "A" for interesting instrumentation and a creative different sound. I give them a C- for how much I actually liked the album. I listened to at least 30-seconds of every track... unfortunately it was often because I could only stand 30 seconds at a time. After the hundredth repetition of a kooky staccato riff I just couldn't take it any more. I did like some of the string sections.

6. Cello
The cello is my all-time favorite instrument. It is so powerfully emotive - subtle, almost an undercurrent in many songs, but totally shouldering the weight of moving and feeling. Fun fact: my husband Ben played the cello for seven years growing up. Even now when he plays guitar he moves his fingers like he is playing the cello. But, despite the fact that it is my favorite thing, despite years of begging, he has never once played the cello for me. He claims he doesn't remember. I think he is a big fat mean liar.

7. How Did I Get to Be So Old
At the wedding I was in this weekend, we reminisced about how the couple had gone to the Homecoming dance together our freshman year of high school. I was stunned when someone mentioned, "Who would've thought eleven years ago we'd be here now celebrating their wedding." Woah woah woah. Do you mean to tell me it has been ELEVEN YEARS since I was a high school freshman?!!?! (Silent mental calculations...) But that means... I. Am. Old.

I thought about that for a good while in the car. Being a grown up. Shudder.

8. Names
I think it is cute when girls named Charlotte are called Charlie. I'm thinking of using it in a story I'm writing.

***

And that, my dear readers, is a glimpse into what I think about and do while on a solo six hour car ride. Fascinating, I know.

needtobreathe

On Saturday night I went to my second concert in four days. Which now brings the number of concerts I've been to this year to... about three (not including GMA Music Week and MIR shows). The moral of this story is, for all you musicians out there, if you see me at your concert it means I am a REALLY big fan!

Needtobreathe from left: Joe, Bear, Bo, & Seth

In a nutshell, I am a really big fan of the band needtobreathe. I was first introduced to them through their second CD, The Heat, which came out last summer, but I'm always a little slow to the game, so I got my hands on it early this year. I don't think I have taken that cd out of my car's cd player since then. If I am going to take Ben's car to work, I bring the cd with me. I already wrote on this blog back in March how I just fell head over heels for their sound and even now I'm not sick of it yet. Even though they play "Washed by the Water" about once every hour on all the Christian radio stations. Don't care, still love it!

So the show was at Exit/In here in Nashville. This means that now after seven years of living in this city I can finally say I've seen a show in one of its most well-known venues. The openers were a guy named Matthew Mayfield (he was okay, sounded like Jon Foreman's solo stuff except with ten years of smoking under his belt) and local boy and fellow Belmont grad Andy Davis (fun bouncy-piano catchy songs, good stuff). It was a late show, so it was already 11 pm by the time needtobreathe came on. But it was worth the wait! They had lots of energy and good... searching for the right word here... sync... as a band. Everyone was together, they did some little interludes of just jamming happily away. The front man and the lead guitarist are brothers (Bear and Bo, loves it), and I always think it is interesting to see and hear siblings play music together. It's like there is a little something extra between them that just makes it click. Plus I think it makes for really interesting harmonizing between the voices since they usually have such similar (to use a dorky music word) timbre. And, let's be honest, they were easy on the eyes, too. My girlfriends from work were particularly taken with younger brother Bo and his hip shaking.

Also apparently big fans of the band? The two (three until the bouncer removed one of them) drunkest girls I've ever seen, a few rows of crowd in front of us. Now I haven't had much life experience being around really drunk people, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say they were about as far gone as you can be without actually passing out on the floor. It was simultaneously awkward, annoying, and also amusing. And they weren't just there by coincidence - they knew every word to all the songs and the names of the guys in the band. Which they enthusiastically hollered throughout the show, bookended by the classic drunk girl exclamation "woooo!" As in, "Woooooooooo! BO!!!! We love you!!! WOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Beers and fists held high (when they weren't falling all over each other and dancing around erratically), they seemed to be having a good time, I guess. All this had me wondering, do they not know that the guys are Christians? I mean, they were playing a song called "Yahweh" in a bar, for crying out loud. It was just a little... incongruous. If the band felt it was awkward they didn't let on, but it was kind of distracting for the rest of us.

Also distracting was the amazon couple that decided to stand right in front of me. She was easily over 6 foot, as was he. And while I totally appreciate wanting to be closer to the front... dude, you guys had half a foot on the rest of us! We couldn't seeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (End of rant.)

They ended the show with their big single "Washed by the Water." It was very cool - they climbed up into the balcony of the venue with just their acoustic guitars and no mics or amps and everyone was very quiet and they played from there, standing on chairs so everyone could see them.


It was a great show and I hope I can see them again soon. Wooooooooo!

More Than Swell

Last night Ben and I were able to go to see The Swell Season at the Ryman here in Nashville. It was such a great show! Some people know I'm not a huge concert goer... it probably has to do with my bouts of socially crippling homebody-ness and my crowd-induced claustrophobia. Hmm, that last sentence made me sound a little neurotic - I'm exaggerating a little!

However, the Ryman is such an amazing venue - the atmosphere of the place just gets to you. You must in your lifetime make an effort to see a show there. And I was familiar with the Swell Season from their association with the movie Once. If you've seen that movie, then you know who they are too - the guy and girl from the film, Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, tour as an actual musical group called The Swell Season, often (as they were last night) backed by most of Glen's other band, The Frames.

Anyway, that was a lot of build up to say that their music is really beautiful and emotional, a la their fellow Irishman Damien Rice. So even though I only knew a few of their songs, from the movie, going in, I still really loved the experience.

One very cool part was when Glen opened the show with the song that opens the movie, "Say It To Me Now." He walked out to the very front of the stage with his guitar, and without plugging in and sans mic, he just started playing. Everyone was pin-drop silent, just enraptured listening to his voice ringing out through the auditorium. Goosebumps moment!

Right away after that Marketa came out and they played "Falling Slowly," which was the main song from the movie and the song they performed (and with which they won) at the Oscars. I was a little surprised that they didn't save it for an encore or something but it was just lovely.

Here is a picture I found online so you can see the crazy damage to his guitar!

Glen told a really funny story of walking around Nashville and stopping in Gruhn's Guitars. He said since his current guitar was bound to give out at some point (the top is practically swiss cheese from years of aggressive strumming), he'd been on the lookout for the next one. He sat and played a vintage 1939 Martin for what seemed like hours, trying to justify the pricey purchase. As he talked with the staff he said, "I don't know, I just can't spend $6000 on a guitar." To which the staff member replied, "You read the tag wrong." He looked again and realized it was $16,000!!! The audience spent the rest of the night trying to convince him he deserved it and to go back and buy it. I guess we'll find out if he does!

He also played a cool Van Morrison cover of Astral Weeks (I had to google it, I didn't know that was what it was off the top of my head!) where he was literally strumming so fast and so hard that I thought his guitar was going to turn to sawdust. He did break a string!

Anyway, if they are coming to your town any time soon it was a great show and I highly recommend it! And if you haven't seen Once I recommend that too... although their Irish accents are so thick you'll have to watch with subtitles. And they say the F word a lot... because, well, they're Irish. :)

Pretty Good Day

Today, was a good day.

I baked brownies. With extra chocolate chips just because. And I displayed them on my new pink plaid platter from the Target clearance aisle.

I wore my favorite summer dress, which is long and beachy and made of the softest grey t-shirt material.

I listened to my Smalltown Poets cd, sang along with "Prophet, Priest & King" and remembered how much I love their music.

I went to our work pool party and laid in the sun and went swimming with my friends. And get this - Ben took the afternoon off and came to the party too!

We went and saw WALL-E. I am now in love with that movie. I cried at their adorable robot love.

I came home all tired and with sunkissed shoulders and as I was taking a shower I realized it was only Friday and the whole weekend was still before me.

Then I typed this blog.

And now I am going to go downstairs, get a glass of milk, and curl up next to Ben on the couch. I am going to thank God that he is not at Bonnaroo or working at his boss's house til 4 am, or any other place than here with me. And I am going to read my book of Ray Bradbury short stories until we get tired and go to bed.

And that, my friends, is a pretty great day.

Note to Self

Well, I heard you say you would love for a lifetime
And now you complain that a lifetime just doesn't feel right for you
Another casualty of casual love
Another soul out of place, a heart that gave up

Why do we break the promises we make?
Are we living for ourselves?

Don't give up on love and throw it all away
Don't give up on love and let it fall away
When did it become so easy to run from your pain?
Don't give up on love and throw it all away

Well, I heard you say you can't change a stubborn heart
Yeah, I can relate, cause that's how I feel when I talk with you

Why should it take losing everything
To realize it might be time to change?

Don't give up on love and throw it all away
Don't give up on love and let it fall away
When did it become so easy to run from your pain?
Don't give up on love and throw it all away

Your restless heart won't win
Cause you take, but you don't give
And you'll keep moving on until you learn what love is

-Sanctus Real "Don't Give Up On Love"

Just Really Sad

This morning at work we found out the saddest news. One of Steven Curtis Chapman's children was killed in a horrible accident. Here is the story from the Tennessean:

Singer Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter is struck, killed by car
By LINDA ZETTLER and KATE HOWARD • Staff Writers • May 22, 2008

Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest child died Wednesday evening after being struck by a car driven by her teenage brother in the driveway of the family's Williamson County home. Maria, one of the Christian singer's six children, was taken by LifeFlight to Vanderbilt Hospital, which confirmed the death, according to Laura McPherson, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The 5-year-old was hit by an SUV driven by her teenage brother, she said. Police did not give the driver's name. The teen was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser down the driveway of the rural home about 5:30 p.m. and several children were playing in the area, McPherson said. He did not see Maria in the driveway before the vehicle struck her, she said.

"It appears to be a terrible accident,'' McPherson said. No charges are expected, she said. The accident was witnessed by two other children; the entire family was home at the time, McPherson said.

Singer/songwriter Chapman, who recently was inducted into Music City Walk of Fame, is one of contemporary Christian music's most recognizable and most awarded names. He and his wife, Mary Beth, have long been supporters of international adoption, having brought three girls from China into their family. Maria was the youngest. The couple is so active in the cause that they formed an organization, Shaohannah's Hope, to aid families wanting to adopt.

With his latest music tour, which came through Nashville in November, Chapman started a campaign called "Change for Orphans." He asked audience members at each stop to bring spare change to the concert, where it was counted and given to a local family to aid in their adoption process.

"I don't know of anybody who loves his children more than he does and is so committed to the adoption concept, and to lose one, no matter what the circumstances, is heartbreaking beyond all comprehension," said John Styll, president of the Nashville-based Gospel Music Association. "He talks about his kids all the time. That's his life. His kids are more important to him than music, that's for sure."

The tragedy was announced during Wednesday-night services at Harpeth Hills Church of Christ, which the family attends. Maria had just graduated from the church preschool. And word spread throughout the tight-knit Christian music community on Wednesday evening. Styll got the news not long after Maria's death.
"I'm confident I can speak for everyone in the community to say we will do everything we can to support this family, as we would do at any time, but especially at a time like this," he said.


What else is there but to believe that even in this, God is in control? There aren't any other words to say. Please pray for the Chapman family during this time. If you would like to make a donation to Shaohannah's Hope, you can visit www.shaohannahshope.org.

GMA Music Week

Well, we made it here... just about halfway done! Not much time to write but wanted to post a few pics of what's going on...

Here is a picture of the main reason I'm making it through this week at all:

This is my bed in my room at the Renaissance. You'll notice that it is dark in the room... and yet this is when we have to get up. 5:30 am. Shudder. Thankfully, sleeping in this bed is like sleeping on a cloud, wrapped in magic. I have to cherish it, because on my own dime I could never afford to stay in a hotel this nice. So thanks, GMA!

These are some of the other main reasons I'm hanging in there... my friends at work:

This is my intern, Jessica... she's doing such a great job this week! Every time I see her she's running around carrying something or checking something. I'm so proud of her!

This is Kristin. She's our registrar and she's basically an amazing human being. She's worked longer hours than any of us this week and done it all with a smile on her face. She's totally a trooper.

And then, of course, there's the music. You can't go anywhere during the week without hearing music blaring from every corner and seeing artists at every turn. I try not to geek out at seeing the artists too much, although it is cool to see them running around and hanging out with each other.

So far I've managed to drag my sleepy butt to two showcases. On Sunday night I went to the BMI Songwriter Showcase, featuring a whole slew of artists performing stripped down versions of the year's best songs. During this show there was one of those seriously awesome moments that you'll always remember. Leeland sang "Tears of the Saints" accompanied by his brother Jack, and you could've heard a pin drop as his wonderful, distinct voice just rang out this flawless song. Everyone was just spellbound... it was absolutely an annointed performance.

Also got to see Chris Tomlin perform his version of "Amazing Grace," which I also really love.

Then last night we hiked it on over to the Wildhorse to see Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, and Third Day. Talk about a line up! Unfortunately we missed most of Jars performance, but Switchfoot handily made up for that with an amazing rocking good time. I have only seen them once before live and it was at the Fair St. Louis so I was like, half a mile away. This was way better, obvs... we were right up near the front and it was just so fun! Jon was looking a little worse for the wear with some seriously overgrown and underwashed hair, but I'll overlook that. So I let my hair down and got my hands up and had a great time. During one song Jon came down into the audience, got up on a table, sang the rest of the song, then rode back to the stage on some dude's shoulders. Fun! Bummer, my camera died after about the first three minutes but I did manage to snap one or two blurry photos...

Third Day ended out the very late night, but it's never too late to stay up and see Mac Powell and his handsome mug. Snapshot of our conversation:

Ben: Do you guys want to stay for Third Day?
Heather: Uh, have you SEEN Mac Powell? And his beautiful blue eyes?

No, but seriously, their music is pretty good too.

Well, that's the last of my updates for now... tomorrow is Dove Day! Don't forget to watch it live on Gospel Music Channel at 7 central, woo-hoo!

Happy Things From Today

1. Having Scruffy as my buddy at the house and bed warmer-upper since Ben is gone
2. Lots of pretty sunshine (even though it was kinda chilly outside)
3. Wearing my new yellow shirt - and the color yellow in general
4. Listening to Sleeping at Last even though I couldn't go to their concert like I wanted
5. Dearest friends coming over and watching some classic Office episodes
6. Ben coming home Thursday night instead of Friday