mikeymo's place

My buddy Joel wrote a post today about his musical influences, and challenged others to do the same.  He listed five, of which I would have easily guessed three,  that he would have put on such a list, and none of  the five surprised me.   I can say that because I have played with Joel quite often, and have played through setlists that he's put together.  (By the way, Joel and I will be playing together again shortly, as we're doing a  coffehouse next month, and he's leading worship at my church.   You're all invited.)

Anyway, it got me thinking.  My influences are many and varied, so I want to take another approach.   I work at a post-secondary vocational school.  Next week, we are  having a summer event for the students - a cookout, games, contests, etc...   In addition, we have  put together a "faculty band" of sorts.  Seems there are a few musicians on staff, including some who play regularly in "bar bands," and a couple like myself, who play on worship teams.  We've assembled a five-piece (three guitars, bass, drums) and vocalist group, and have been working on some "classic" rock songs for the event.  We have a seven-song set that we will play twice.  After three jam sessions rehearsals, these musicians are starting to sound pretty good.

Many of the songs or bands in the set have influenced me in some way musically  so I thought I'd touch on that a bit, and how the experience of learning to play these songs has influenced me, instead of just listing some artists. Here's the set:

Long Train Runnin' (Doobie Brothers)
Ramble On (Led Zepplin)
Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits)
Enter Sandman (Metallica)
Simple Man (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love (Van Halen)
Sweet Child O' Mine (Guns 'n' Roses)

"Long Train..." has never been one of my favorite Doobie Brothers songs.  That honor would go to "China Grove" (another Tim Johnson tune with a similar groove) or "Black Water." But I love the Doobie Brothers for their storytelling in song, their cultural awareness.

I pretty much am the last guy to be  a "British Invasion" fan.  I can't say I was really a fan of Led Zepp, the Stones or even the Beatles.  But "Ramble  On" is a great song for a guitar player....  there's so much going on there.  It really exemplifies the genius of Zepplin as much as any song can.  Paige is so sloppy he's brilliant.

"Sultans of Swing" is one of my favorite songs, ever.  E.V.E.R.  I love the groove, I love the  lyrics, I love the lead.  Learning to play the  rhythm part has been challenging, because the song is all about the pocket. Learning to play under such an amazing lead line, and not screw it up, has been work, but has been rewarding as well.

I also wasn't much of a Metallica fan, even though they were huge in my teen years.  But the "Black Album" came out after I had outgrown the headbanging thing.  Still, the  record was genius.  And playing "Sandman" has really brought out the usefulness of power chords to me - something that the lone guitar player in a worship band doesn't do a lot of.

"Simple Man."  What an amazing song.  I want to do it next Mother's Day.  For a high-school  student in the 80's, Skynyrd was like  baseball, Mom and Apple Pie all rolled into an eight-minute song.  (though, of course, it was "Freebird!!" we were all shouting at concerts.)

I lived and breathed Van Halen for a lot of years.  Saw them every tour, wore out every album.  Eddie's phrasing and technical prowess still stuns me.  I'm probably one of three people who think Balance was their best album of the Hagar years, but Fair Warning was the one that slayed me as a kid.  It's so complex, yet simple. I can can understand how music can speak to both the mind and the heart because of that record.

Finally, G'n'R, who could have been the next Aerosmith had they not self-destructed.  There was a depth and complexity to their music.  "Sweet Child..." for me epitomizes that period in my youth, that vital time of growth, pain, joy and learning.  And now, learning to play the rhythm perfectly under that lead line, like "Sultans," has been a great, fun challenge.

Not the typical  list of influences for a worship musician, I know.  But some of these songs, especially "Sultans" and "Sweet Child," really informed the core of what I thought music should be as a youth.  I didn't start playing until after I got saved, so everything I've learned from has been P&W music, for the most part.  Diving into brilliant songs like these has grown my chops and expanded my musical horizons.

According to the Ultimate Source of All Reliable Information on the Internet (otherwise known as Wikipedia), there are over 156 million blogs flying through the pipes of the interwebs.  Some are large mega-blogs (Huffington Post, anyone), some are guys with something to say to those who would  listen, and then there's this guy.  (Who I happen to like)

Some blogs give you  great advice, like ProBlogger.  Some point out our foibles,  like Failblog, and some just want to get you the info like TechCrunch.   Regardless, blogs have become the de facto method of information transfer ever since Justin Hall posted his first link in 1994.

I began this  blog in May 2008 with this post, which was  basically notes from a teaching I  gave at a  youth event.   But from that day, 590 posts later, I hope I've  had something to say.  At least, up until lately.  At one point, I was writing three blogs.  Slowly that dropped to two, and one has been dormant for awhile.  Here, about a year and a half ago I  dropped  from a post almost every day, to a couple a week, to one  a  week, to... you get the point.  Like so many of my blogger friends, I had simply stopped, in favor of 140-character soundbites.   Oh sure, I still posted my Sunday recaps, and the occasional movie review, but was I contributing to the conversation?   I think not.

So I'm gonna give it a go again.  I've been encouraged by my buddy Joel, who has not only revived his own personal blog, but has started another amazing conversation, and has (at least) one more in the  works.   Also by another buddy, Fernando, for whom blogging is so much more than simply jotting down thoughts; proving that excellence has its place in the blogsphere.

So let's try and keep the conversation going, shall we?  But it only really works if  you come along for the ride.

This summer's theater selection is promising to be a decent one.  Sadly, the same can't be said for the local Redbox, at least not if Battle Los Angeles  is to be considered a prime choice.

The film debuted in theaters scarcely three months ago, and already it's stinking up DVD players.  I mean, "Let's get to the objective, balanced review."

Why is it every action film post- Saving Private Ryan seems to need to give us a overdose of handicam-induced nausea? Did they throw away all the SteadyCam's in Hollywood? A camera dolly, a tripod?  Anything?  Director Jonathan Liebesman has us shaking and baking all over the LA basin, making lightning-fast cuts and never really giving us any idea what is happening or who it's happening to.  There is a brief introduction of a couple of characters I suppose we're supposed to care about later, and then right into the explosions, frantic action, dead people and semi-robotic aliens.

Let's see if this plot sounds familiar: strange objects approach Earth, the government knows that they are aliens because they are slowing down, they attack major cities all over the world, the reluctant hero risks all to take out the command center, and once the Americans figure out to how to disable the mother ship in LA, they tell others around the world how to do it.  I take it screenwriter Chris Bertolini has seen Independence Day a couple of times.

Normally I would use this space right here to summarize the key points relevant to letting kids see the movie.  I'll give you the short version: don't.  Don't even let yourself see it.

#unplugged

#acoustic

That's the way we went this Sunday - a stripped down acoustic set, due to Daniel and Aquim being away for a Men's Encounter.   Laura led, and Jr. on bass and myself on acoustic.  Tight.  Simple. Fun.

Here's the setlist:

Opening Song:

You Are My World (Sampson)(C)

Main Set:

History Maker (Smith)(G)
Blessed Be Your Name (Redman)(C)
Wrap Me in Your Arms (Grothe/Gungor)(C)
The Heart of Worship (Redman)(D)

Offering:

Victory Chant (Vogels)(G>A)

Laura did a great job leading today.  We've done these acoustic sets before, but having just an acoustic and a bass brought a new dimension to it - and it was good.  I could really hear the congregation sing without the full band, and felt really connected to the worship.

How was your set?  See others at The Worship Community. 

This was a special weekend at Gospel Light, as we celebrated our 29th anniversary of service to our community.  We decided to incorporate some songs that were sung back in the early days of our fellowship.  We're happy that we have several families that have been around since those days, and they shared a bit as well.  But on to the setlist.

Opening Song:

All Because of Jesus (Fee)(C)

Main Set:

One God (Fitts)(G)
Jehovah-Jireh (Watson) (Em)
Give Him the Glory (Santiago)(D)
Wrap Me in Your Arms (Grothe/Gungor)(D)

Offering:

God Almighty (Garber)(Dm-A)

Yeah, that's a song from the 70s you see in there,  Plus a Bob Fitts classic from the late 80s.  Of course, we freshened them up a bit with a new medley arrangement, working around the Em.   "Give Him the Glory" is a slower anthem that was written in the early 90s by Eliazar Santiago, our worship leader at the time.  Eli has moved on, but he remains in contact, and has left us with several songs.  "God Almighty" is a catchy little walkdown number (Dm-C-Bb-A7) that was written by Fred Garber, one of GLCC's first youth leaders.  Fred was a volunteer fireman, who was killed responding to a fire in 1990.  Anna shared a wonderful testimony about  him, and we reprised the song.

Check out other recaps at The Worship Community. This week marks one hundred-fifty consecutive weeks of sharing recaps over there.  Well done, guys!