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January 29 Faith doesn't demand details I'm headed to Nashville on Monday, and per the usual I'm wondering what this trip will bring. Without a question, every trip is different - but at the same time, I have yet to be disappointed. Surprised? Yes. Frustrated? Sometimes. Disappointed in the overall experience? No. I can't control who will be in town, who will be available, what song ideas get written, how they get written, etc. God is in that, and He already knows. Every time I go, I remind myself that God is "quickening" some avenues, and delaying or even eliminating others, all as a part of His guidance in my life. It's sometimes hard to know the difference between all of those, but I mix in a little "perseverance" and then leave it in His hands (admittedly sometimes more effectively than others). A few lines that spoke to me this morning: - The enemy knows your vulnerabilities and he'll push you to your limits. - "Blessed is the man who endures...when he has been approved he will receive the crown" (Jas 1:12 NKJV). - "Having done all...stand." (Ephesians 6:13 NKJV) - "You have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise" (Heb 10:36 NKJV). - Faith doesn't demand details, it just keeps moving obediently forward, believing God for the right result. I trust "standing" and "moving forward" can peacefully co-exist.... Signed, Trie Ying 2 Dew Bohthh January 28 More from The Legends The recent AS interview with Lou Reed is a bit disjointed, but it's Lou's fault. And by the end, I loved that about him. I've now become convinced he's a genius, and creative beyond imagination. Doesn't mean I necessarily love the music, but I definitely resonated with him. Not the disjointed part - I'm rather too organized and anal for that (not something I'm necessarily proud of). But something deeper. Listen in.... "Not too many [songwriters], when they write songs go for broke. When someone does who's really good, it's astonishing. There's a reason a three-minute song can devastate you, or make you get up and dance, stop what you're doing and go, 'What is that?' It just hits you." "You have to visualize a really vivid, very quick [truth] where you can feel the attitude of the person you're singing about. It's very 3-D. You have to be able to picture it." "There has to be truth. If you don't believe it's true, it's a waste of time. " "My teacher, Delmore Schwarz, wrote this story, 'In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.'" Sorry, that "taste" doesn't really convey what I'm getting at. There's more. Much more. And I can't begin to describe what I felt by the end of the interview. Maybe the word "drawn in". Or the overused "inspired". .... You know what? I have yet to meander through an issue of American Songwriter where I didn't learn something that made me a better writer. I may not always recognize names, but I certainly recognize the muse. And it causes me to praise the Father of All Muses. Signed, Go Wing 4 Brohk January 19 Q&A - Mr. Newman Q: Your first album came out 40 years ago. After all these years, do you have a better sense of how to connect with your source of creativity, to make songs happen? A: My first advice would be to be tough enough to hang in there. And fight it. A lot of it is stamina and toughness. And don't let the critic become bigger than the creator. Don't let it strangle you. Go ahead and write "I saw this girl/she was the best girl in the world..." Let it go. Put a string of stuff together. Go ahead. And then--and I don't always follow this advice myself--then futz with it, make something happen. Write something down...do something. And stay there; stay there three hours, four hours. And good things will happen. Some days you get things that are gifts. A song will happen and it will go all the way through to the end. You can see to the end of it right from the beginning. (Randy Newman, American Songwriter, vol. 24) Tenacity. There's no other way around it. Signed, Geh 2 Wurkk January 13 Bob Dylan I've never been a Bob Dylan fan. And I'll admit to feeling slightly guilty and "out of it" whenever I see him listed as a "major influence" in a musician's life. How did I live through these last few decades and miss out on him? Talk about a hermit! Before today, I really couldn't tell you a single thing about him. Well...maybe one. But probably not two. So this afternoon I watched most of "I'm Not There" (2007), described as "the first biography approved by the singer songwriter." I learned lots of stuff about Bob Dylan, and heard lots of his music. I now understand a bit about where he was coming from, how his music spoke to and spoke for so many people, how he influenced the culture of the day, and what his music sounds like. (May I just say - I'm sure his lyrics are genius. They must be. But I personally found it hard to get past his melodic style.) Anyway, I'm still not a Bob Dylan fan. I'm going to accept that about myself. (My apologies to anyone I've offended.) Signed, Mye Taist I. Gess January 07 Let goods and kindred go Sometimes a synchronicity (aka God-ordained coincidence) makes sense to me. It happens, I recognize the "aha" moment, I learn from it, I'm maybe inspired or chastised, and I move on. Other times, I'm left pondering. Example: Yesterday, totally out-of-the-blue, I quoted this portion of a lyric in my journal..."let goods and kindred go". Fine. End of story. I didn't even think about what hymn it came from. But then, that same evening, I was giving Shelby her piano lesson, and her next sight-reading hymn was A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Toward the end of her rendition - tortured though it be - I suddenly realized that verse 4 is what I had quoted that morning. "Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill, God's truth abideth still. His Kingdom is forever." Amen! I've always loved those lines. And given the fact that hymns really aren't a part of our church's musical life, I probably haven't sung it (or played one of my dozens of organ settings of Ein Feste Burg) for years! So....why the synchronicity? What are You saying to me, God? I get the part about letting go of materialism, especially in the economic wasteland of today; but is there some new message here? Is this simply a reminder about letting go of my "goods"? I know I can be a really slow learner. Or maybe it's the "let kindred go" part. Is someone near and dear to me going to be leaving this earth in the near future? No answers at the moment. Simply a firm recognition of a definite God-moment (I can usually feel it deep in my bones), and the desire to understand what God's saying to me. Still wondering - and asking. Let me know if you have any ideas.... Signed, I. One Nuh Know January 03 Blank This isn't new to me - but I still really like it. "We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."-- Edith Lovejoy Pierce Sure, I like to look back at the past year as much as the next guy. But there's just nothing like a blank page. Dwell in possibility, my friends. Dwell in possibility.... Signed, Hoo Noze |
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