Album Name Survey
June 10, 2007
Isaac and John are working on an album this summer and need a name for it by next week, yikes! below are some of sample we’ve been bouncing around…
please comment and let us know which you like - or add one to the mix!
tangent spaces
intrinsic mass
Ike and the Hipostles
Critical mass
Moment of Inertia
service
mass acceleration
transmissio
resistance of a body
momentousmass
Mass, Density, Volume
Building a Religion: A Limited Edition
May 24, 2007
here’s a mix by my bro, TJSnodgrass. I’ve been listening to it a lot lately and wanted to share the playlist for your musical pleasure…
Building a Religion
A Limited Edition
1. The Doors : Whisky, Mystics and Men
2. Bo Didley : Who Do You Love?
3. Buffy St. Marie : Starwalker
4. Kermit the Frog : The Rainbow Connection
5. Elton John : Circle of Life
6. Hava Nagila : Dick Dale
7. Stephen Schwarz : On the Willows
8. Stephen Schwarz : When You Believe
9. Neil Diamond : Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show
10. Eddie Kendricks : Going Up in Smoke
11. The Pixies : In Heaven
12. Tom Waits : Jesus Gonna Be Here
13. Cake : Building a Religion
14. Sangeeta : Pyar Ka Hai Bairi
15. Sting : Desert Rose
16. Prince : Paisley Park
17. The Flaming Lips : Do You Realize??
18. The Doors : The Soft Parade
New Music
May 19, 2007
We had a lovely Transmission this week - due to a last minute change of plan, we ended up sitting around and doing shape-note singing in three part harmony for about forty-five minutes. There’s something really wonderful about making music in a home, and there’s something even more wonderful about hearing your voice blend and harmonize with other people in the community. Although it wasn’t the most complicated ritual we’ve ever done, it was a very moving worship experience.
I’m really interested in upping the amount of music at Transmission. We’ve got a few in-house song writers, several singers, and lots of music lovers. Maybe we could make musical jams be a semi-regular thing.
In any case, in celebration of good Spring weather, I’d like to share the latest Isaac Everett & j. Snodgrass concoction - a setting of the Canticle of Brother Sun by St Francis of Assisi.
[audio:brothersun.mp3]
During Francis’s life, there was a movement called the Cathars who preached a strong disparity between the spiritual world and the physical world. For the Cathars, the world was an evil place created by a demon and the goal of Christ was to free us from it so that we could be spiritually reunited with God. Francis, a monk who I think of as half-way between Jack Kerouac and Dr. Dolittle, opposed this point of view and wrote lots of poetry about seeing God in creation. This particular poem praises God by honoring and personifying the sun, moon, and stars, the four elements, and, ultimately, death. It also happens to be the first piece of Italian vernacular poetry.
The poem was metricized brilliantly by John, and sung by Dara Centonze (who many of you heard at Easter at Avalon). Enjoy!
PS We’re releasing this to the world, so feel free to download it, pass it around, etc. If you love it, buy the next album, to be released in August.
Miss Good Friday?
April 7, 2007
Were you too worn out to make it to church last night? Did your boss make you work late? Did you have a better offer to go out with some friends?
Well, never fear - I’m bringing you a nice good Friday meditation featuring the poems of Barbara Crafton and the music of, well, me. So turn up your speakers, turn down your lights, and spend some time getting ready for Easter…
[audio:goodfridaymeditation.mp3]
Enjoy!
PS a really large chunk of my last album is in the meditation, so be kind about distributing it. If you really, really love it, consider picking up a copy.
Psalm 121 Mash-Up
April 2, 2007
I write a lot of music for Transmission but we haven’t put any audio up on the site yet. I wrote this last week for our Bethesda service and thought you might enjoy hearing it.
Push play to listen:
[audio:asongforascents.mp3]
I frequently write antiphons for psalms when we use them in worship, but I don’t have a strong voice so if the crowd is small the singing can get iffy. Since hiring a cantor was out of the question, I figured that sampling Paul McCartney would make things a little easier (and more fun).
It actually worked really well - I recommend that any of you other small house churches look into sampling pop tunes for worship. If you want to know about the nuts and bolts of how I put this together, read on…
EASTER @ AVALON: service draft & songs
March 6, 2007
ORDER OF SERVICE draft (comments and questions welcome below!)
Gathering
* DJ
* Singing, clapping, body moving (see song ideas below - input welcome!)
* Welcome
Remembering the Resurrection
- “theater in the midst” (various components, still working out, order not set, staged around the room)
* Death of Jesus (Mark 15:33-47?), told by storyteller?
* Just Another Poor Boy by Chris de Burgh
* Matthew 28:1-10, reading
* 2-4 people reflect on Easter story, Mary Mag, Limelight, resurrection, etc…
Prayers of the Peoples
- interactive stations will be arranged around the space before people arrive. people will have time to explore them as they please. visit all or spend whole time at one…
* Time line from founding of Holy Communion Episcopal Church, to the Limelight, Avalon, and 4/8/07. There will be markers for people to add their own tick marks and memories to the time line of the space.
* Confession and prayer stations
* Photos and candle lighting station
* Movement station w/ dancers and yoga
* Station reflecting on seeing the Risen Christ in others
* Sex Worker information tables
* Common Ground will also be setting up an interactive station
Pass the Peace
Communion in Small Groups
- people gather in groups in 6-10, each group has a bag with instructions on how to proceed
Closing - more songs and Soul Train
SONG IDEAS (feedback and additional suggestions welcome below!)
Keep the Faith - Bon Jovi
Like a Prayer - Madonna
Stayin’ Alive - Bee Gees
I Would Die 4 U - Prince
Jesus Walks - Kanye West
I’m a Believer - Neil Diamond
Broken Wings - Mister Mister
V-DAY RITUAL
February 15, 2007
2/14/2007
Valentine’s Day House Church
SETTING: 2-bedroom apartment in west Harlem. seven folks arrived, cooked dinner, welcomed our new guest, ate snacks, then started ritual.
* kiss of peace
* ritual reading of Song of Songs
* prayer: bodies – folks strike a pose, everyone follows suit, say a prayer
* prayer: love song lyric – pass out selections from popular love songs that could be read to address a lover relationship with the divine. folks select one, read or sing it to the group. sing alongs welcome
* dinner, dessert, wine and good conversation
SoS RITUAL READING
Instructions –
* prep and procure the props
* make copies of readings in large font for participants to read
* when gathered, explain interactive component before each reading – have people perform the asterisked ritual before, during, or after the reading
* afterwards, invite people to share how they heard God speaking to them in the text
I SoS 1:12-17 (from bible or TJS translation below)
* SMELL – cedar balls and spices
Where you recline in light of noon
I’ll fly to lie beside you soon
With Spices, wine and ripest fruit
Have my desire in finest bloom
Baptized in your divine perfume
The time is right, we’re wise but new
The time is right, desire consumes
Our couch is green, our rafters pine
Our house is cedar beams and grafted vines
The clouds our canopy on high
Our town this Eden ‘neath the sky
Feel your left arm beneath my head
Your right my sheet, your side my bed
But I won’t sleep for love is ready
And I won’t rest till love is dead
II SoS 2:8-13
* VISUALIZE – close your eyes, listen, and see the scene in your mind’s eye
III Song of Songs 4:9-16
* SMELL – light incense
I Want to be a Clone
January 30, 2007
When I was in my late teens, I was introduced to alternative Christian music, which began my “descent” into what I would call the alternative church.
Different than Isaac’s definition of the Emerging Church, this type of church may have had an authority figure at the top, but from where it stood it was changing the notions of convention. It wasn’t the dress-up-and-look-your-best-shop-talk type of church. Rather, to give an example, it was about 6-7 people dressed in all black, makeup covering their faces, looking edgy, some might say gothic, in a dark basement lit by candlelight, singing gothic worship songs (to this day I am not even sure I can describe that!), and talking about a particular passage in the bible. It was a place where people like this could feel safe and could meet God where they were in their lives without the criticisms of those whom were more “conservative” in style. This church and it’s corresponding music reached out to a generation of young people whom weren’t being touch by “conventional wisdom”.
The musicians - bands like Delieverance, Vengence Rising, Tourniquet, the Violet Burning, Echoing Green, and others - were ridiculed and called demon worshipers dressed in sheeps’ clothing. Yet I couldn’t tell you the number of people they reached. It has always stuck out in my mind. They stood out because they were different and in some form were an image of Christ on this earth. They were the outcasts who were reaching out to other outcasts and providing a spiritual form of healing through music.
One song in particular, which had a great influence on my life, was Steve Taylor’s “I Want to be a Clone”. Steve Taylor’s comments and criticism about the estabilished church reach out to the disillusioned and challenge those who “clothe themselves in righteousness” but forget the very foundations of Christ - His love. Thus, without further ado, the lyrics:
I’d gone through so much other stuff
that walking down the aisle was tough
but now I know it’s not enough
I want to be a clone
I asked the Lord into my heart
they said that was the way to start
but now you’ve got to play the part
I want to be a clone
chorus:
Be a clone and kiss conviction goodnight
cloneliness is next to Godliness, right?
I’m grateful that they show the way
’cause I could never know the way
to serve him on my own
I want to be a clone
Missing Him
December 19, 2006
I have a “rock n’ roll” version of this Vineyard praise song that just came up on my iTunes. It reminded me of Him and just how much I miss His presence in my life. Too buried in finals and my thesis project, I forget that’s He’s just one word (or in this case one song) away and all I have to do is call out and He’s with me. I miss Him and thank Him for always being there even when I am not paying attention.
“More love, more power
More of You in my life
More love, more power
More of You in my life.
I will worship You with all of my heart
And I will worship You with all of my mind
And I will worship You with all of my strength
For you are my Lord
You are my Lord.
WAITING : AN ADVENT MIX
December 7, 2006
badass nina., originally uploaded by canela_miel.
j.Snodgrass mix for Transmission apt.church 12.06.06
MILES DAVIS: SOMEDAY MY PRINCE WILL COME
LEONARD COHEN: WAITING FOR THE MIRACLE (FULL LENGTH)
THE DOORS: WAITING FOR THE SUN
ANNIE LENNOX : WAITING IN VAIN
DEPECHE MODE : WAITING FOR THE NIGHT
NINA SIMONE: LILAC WINE
LOU REED : WAITING FOR THE MAN
CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN : COME ON DARKNESS
ISAAC EVERETT : EXPECTATION
DEPECHE MODE : WAITING FOR THE NIGHT (REMIX)
DISNEY SOUNDTRACK : “SOMEDAY MY PRINCE WILL COME”
You can check out and download (a slightly modified version of) this iMix from iTunes:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=208077971
