Currently Listening Icky Thump By The White Stripes see related

Post-Christmas Craziness...

Christmas is behind and 2008 looms large, just days away, so this post is dedicated to the insanity of the last few days.

To begin, I'll explain that we've been trying to paint our house (just about every inch of interior has had new paint applied), but we haven't been able to finish a single room.  They've all been in various states of primer or first coats with no end in site.  However (insert trumpet fanfare here), on the 22nd we finished our living room!  Actually we still have to paint one door, but I'm saying it's finished anyway!  Hooray! 

The impetus for our achievement was our TrueNorth musician & A/V Christmas party which took place on Sunday night.  We managed to get the house cleaned and decorated to a reasonable standard and had around 30 people join us for the festivities.  It was a full house of kids and parents and we really enjoyed it.  Jennifer made Taco soup & Chili, both of which were well received and gladly eaten.  I wasn't sure we would be able to pull it off, especially when we ended up taking care of two additional pre-school children for most of the day Sunday (our friends', whose father had to be rushed to the hospital that morning because of a health issue.  He also happened to be my guitarist for Sunday morning worship which made it interesting.  He's home now, thankfully.). 

On Monday we had our Christmas Eve service at Lake Benson Park in an open-air ampitheater.  When I told my dad about it he couldn't believe we held a service outside (Indiana is covered in snow), but our weather was great; a comfortable 60 degrees without wind.  After the service (which went swimmingly), we went to a TrueNorth Christmas party, then to another Christmas get-together.  The second gathering was really cool.  They have a tradition of eating Indian food on Christmas Eve.  Jennifer & I both love Indian so it was a fun way to celebrate with our friends.  After we finally got home Jennifer and I ended up staying up till 3am wrapping presents.  It was all worth it, though.

Christmas morning came quickly and we had a great time watching the girls open their presents.  Meira just kept saying "Ohhhh!" with such excitement that I would crack up every time.  We were not sure how much she'd enjoy unwrapping gifts, but she loved it.   Aria pushed Meira around on a little riding toy for most of the morning, when they weren't playing with their new Polly Pockets.  Jennifer loved her new digital camera and then we were both annoyed that we couldn't get it to turn on.  Luckily it was just a bad battery and it's working fine now, much to her great joy.  (That girl loves to take pictures!)  To finish our Holiday we went over to a friends house for Christmas dinner gathering and had a great time.  Since we had to wait to spend time with our extended families, it was nice to have such great friends to celebrate with.  We ended up reading the Christmas story for the girls on a couple of occasions so the real meaning of the day was expressed as well.  

So that was the craziness of our Christmas.  It was a blast.   

Currently Listening Neon Bible By Arcade Fire see related

The best way to spread Holiday cheer is...

So, it's difficult to believe that Christmas is drawing perilously near; Thanksgiving well behind us; but I must commend my family for achieving proper house decoration prior to December 1st.  Normally we'd be lucky to have a tree up by December 20th, but this year we've already completed our shopping for the girls, whose gifts now adorn the undercarriage of our fake fir in resplendant packaging.  In fact, according to my wife, the shopping has been completed for this year from her end (which means I better get moving, since I don't have a single gift for her under the tree yet!  Yikes!).

I love Christmas, I love that my daughters are beginning to reach an age where they look forward to it too.  They both love the lights when we drive at night and Aria is doing her best to refrain from opening the gloriously wrapped presents she sees in our living room.  I hope that both of them will recognize that the gift giving and receiving is really only part of the celebration.  I hope that we can clearly communicate how trivial our presents are compared to the gracious offering that our Creator gave us in a quiet town, half a world away over two thousand years ago.  The lights and the gifts and the decorations are all just fanfare, and I hope they understand how little any of it matters without Jesus.

As far as family news is concerned, we are all in full health (sometimes Jennifer even gets to sleep all through the night... sometimes).  Meira has really begun to assert her individuality and is coming into her own.  She walks (when she is so inclined) and has begun to talk (though mostly it's shouting Momma! or Dadda!) and she loves to have us read books to her (especially "Miss Spider" for which she has her favorite interactive gestures).  She's not much of a speaker (likes to babble, primarily), so Jennifer has taught her some sign language which she employs with joy.  She knows the signs for: "more," "thankyou," "cup," & "all done," and if those don't work she's great at pointing and nodding her head for "yes," or shaking it for "no."  Once you actually verbalize what she is asking for she smiles, laughs and nods.  Her favorite thing (other that going outside to play) is pushing her dolls around the house in her little strollers.  Aria, on the other hand, likes to be chased, that is until you come close to getting her at which point she screams and demands that she become the chaser.  She also loves to ride her tricycle in our driveway while she shakes a cluster of freshly dropped pine needles at her dad and mom.  Aria is also a huge fan of books and can recite some of her favorites from memory by herself (which mom and dad catch her doing sometimes when we walk by her in her room). 

As for dad and mom, we love going out for Thai food, playing with the girls and hanging out with people from TrueNorth.  We combined all three at our house recently when we had two families over for Thai food with their kids.  It was really fun.  Additionally I continue my quest for musical joy, though the pickings have been slim since my last post.  I'll have to post my year end list for movies and music before too long.  Until then.

Life's good

Life's good.  All my girls are healthy (Meira has even started walking, abeit not very often or confidently, but I digress), our new church is doing well and people are coming to faith, even my dog seems to be content these days (though he's getting up there, he's 11 years old now).  So, with little info. to write about concerning my life, how about some more music reviews and movie selections?  Here goes:

1. Radiohead "In Rainbows"-  I have to start with Radiohead's new album (out only via the internet currently) because it's a truly beautiful work.  I think I enjoy this one more with each listen and I liked it immediately.  It has driving tracks, somber songs, lush strings, soaring vocals, creative structure and chording, searing solos and it's all held together with lyrics that seem almost hopeful and yearning (as opposed to Thom's recent bouts of anger & irrational fear).  It's definitely my favorite album this year (though Besnard Lakes' "Darkhorse" is a very close second). 

2. Iron & Wine "Shepherd's Dog"- Sam Beam writes great songs.  This time out he spices them up with even more instrumentation than his last album and the music is no worse for it.  There are elements of world rhythms, and even some meatier, almost rock, instrumentation & singing.  The title track, for instance, is a very driving song with Mr. Beam vearing into an almost growl.  I don't think there is a lame track on the entire album and if it weren't for the new Radiohead I'd have a real hard time removing this from my cd player. 

3. Caribou "Andorra"- This is the new album from the artist formerly known as "Manitoba" (before he was sued for infringement by Dick Manitoba who was the frontman for a Punk band from the late 70's.  Not very "punk" to sue another artist if you ask me, especially when Manitoba is a Canadian Province, but I digress...again.).  This album starts with an amazing opening track and then fizzles a bit afterword.  Caribou constructs all his music from samples (he plays the music live then cuts and pastes it together), this results in the occasional homerun (i.e. the 1st track) and sometimes sounds like he wanted to layer too much.  A little restrain here and there would have been beneficial.  my suggestion, buy the 1st track off itunes (it's really gorgeous) and leave the rest unless you just like background music that seems a bit cluttered.

4. David Crowder Band "Remedy"- Let me begin by saying I think DCB's last album ("Collision") was a masterwork (save the song: Foreverandever... which was out of place on the album imho).  So this release was destined to be a lesser work and I think the band went for singles as opposed to a cohesive whole.  That being said, this is a good album with some excellent tracks (not the least of which being "the Glory of it All" which is a fantastic addition to their already fabulous canon).  I'm not a big fan of their "Junior Worship" songs ("Neverending" & "We Won't Be Quiet") but everything else is solid.

At this time I'll list movies that I'm excited to see (though probably will have to wait for video since I rarely get the theater these days; a real irony since our church meets in a theater every week but I digress a third time):

1. Michael Clayton- great reviews and anything Clooney is in is usually worth seeing.

2. Darjeeling Limited- I love all the movies that Wes Anderson has directed and I'm really looking forward to seeing this one as well.

3. Elizabeth; the Golden Age- this picks up where "Elizabeth" left off and that movies was great so I'm hoping this lives up to its forebear.

4. Life of Pi- This won't come out for a long time (maybe not till '09), but I can't wait to see it.  Directed by Jeunet (of Amelie fame) and based on the outstanding book of the same title.  I'm hoping those two factors equal an awesome movie.

O.k. that's enough for now. 

Currently Listening The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse By The Besnard Lakes see related

One Big Move

Today marks 40 days in our new home.  We moved to Garner, NC after having lived in Concord for almost 10 years (just 2 months shy).  It was bittersweet to leave after all that time.  We still love the church where we served.  We miss our many friends and all the kids we worked with, not to mention the house where we lived for 8 years.  I don't think you can replace things such as these.  In fact I always believed that Concord afforded us the perfect location; close to a big city but still a (mostly) quiet town, growing church, plenty of opportunities for fun and discovery.  I never thought we'd be able to top it, but I was wrong. 

Garner is such a great place to live!  We managed to find a great house, one block from a nice park, but on a sleepy little side street in a quiet neighborhood.  We're even closer to a big city than in Concord (I can get to downtown Raleigh from my house in 10 minutes).  It has all the ameneties of Charlotte and more, closer to my front door, and that's just the location.  Add into that the fact that we're now a part of a church plant where excitement & energy are in abundance, new friends are springing up all around and my actual role at the church fits my skill set perfectly and you've created a recipe for the greatest atmosphere of any place I've ever lived.  

Needless to say, we love our new home and our new church (True North  www.mytruenorth.org ).  I'll try to post some pictures soon.   In lieu of those, for now I'll give you a random note about new music that I'm loving at the moment.

Besnard Lakes- "Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse"  (A+ best album of the year for me so far)

the National- "Boxer"  (A- it's a grower.  not as good as "Alligator" but definitely better than most)

the Ponys- "Turn the Lights Out"   (A- sweet guitar psych rock, with lazy vocals)

B.R.M.C.- "Baby 81"  (B  I was a little disappointed with this at first but it gets better with more listens)

That'll have to do for now. 

Currently Listening Roots & Crowns By Califone pink and sour see related

Here We Are...

 so, i haven't posted in a while and thought i'd try and make an update on my daughter and also life in general (thanks manda for the prompt!). 

Meira is doing really well, all things considered.  sometimes it seems like her surgery was years ago, but in reality it was only six months ago.  one look at her scar is all it takes to bring that time back.  i'm so thankful to God that we get the joy of watching her grow.  she still has some issues we're working through.  she stopped gaining weight about a month and a half ago and only recently have we got her back on track.  that caused the doctors to flip out a bit which scared us because we hadn't realized she wasn't doing well.  she's developing really well in every other regard, however.  she smiles at us all the time and loves when Aria sings to her.  (side note: Aria is growing like crazy and never ceases to amaze us with what she says or does.  recently she counted backwards from 49 to zero!  not perfectly, but close enough to make our jaws drop.  she's only two and a half!)  jennifer and i are worn down a bit with keeping up with these two little girls, but we'll catch up on our sleep eventually (I HOPE). 

in other news i've finally started recording some of the songs that have been floating around in my brain for the last year or so.  i solicited the help of some of my high school musicians and tracked two songs with full band and when it's all finished i should have 10 songs.  i won't say if they'll be any good or not, but of the two we tracked together as a group one turned our really good and the other isn't bad.  i don't exactly know the catalyst for this recent creative patch, but i also painted several watercolors and did a charcoal drawing that turned out pretty cool.  i guess you could say i've been keeping busy.

i'll leave you with some music recomendations.  basically every band that i love put out an album in the last six months and though some of them weren't as good as i'd hoped, a few of them were mindblowing.  here they are with my comments:

Califone  "roots and crowns"-  A+  this record is stunning for its' combination of accessibility and creativity.  i don't think i've heard a more experimental band create something that sounded so completely organic and rich.

Sparklehorse "dreamt for light years in the belly of a mountain"-  A  i've been waiting for this album for five years and it didn't disappoint.  it's a more pop driven album than their last ("it's a wonderful life") but it doesn't suffer for it.  great songs.

Pernice Brothers "live a little"- B  i'll be honest and say that i was a little disappointed with this one.  that's probably because joe pernice has produced such amazing material (in my humble opinion) that my expectations were high.  it's still a good album with some standout tracks, but not the equal of some of his earlier albums. 

Walkmen "a hundred miles off" & "pussycats"-  B & B+ respectively  i was surprised by how few hooks the new album of originals ("a hundred miles off") contained.  there were a few songs that just didn't feel fully realized.  that's not to say that there were'nt some outstanding songs, just not a full albums worth.  "pussycats," however, was a really fun creative diversion to follow.  it's a cover album that duplicates a harry nilsson and john lennon album track for track.  it's not earthshattering, but it's a lot of fun and sometimes that's more important.

Black Keys "chulahoma EP" & "magic potion"-  A- & B+ respectively  chulahoma is a covers album (all tracks from an old bluesman named junior kimbrough) and it's flawlessly executed.  sounds like jimi hendrix playing the blues music that inspired him only with just himself and a simple drum kit.  "magic potion" on the other had suffers from too little creative ideas.  it's more great songs but they don't feel fully fleshed out for some reason. 

Black Heart Procession "the spell"-  B  this was a departure from the typical BHP album and i was both impressed and less enchanted.  it has some really strong material but some of it isn't really my taste.