iconoclasts thought...

If I could have a blanket that covered me with love
the strands that kept me warm
were notes and tunes infused with Wilco
notes out of tune
notes with neutral milk hotel, REM, radiohead, and Miles Davis

I would blanket myself and I would never feel alone
I would feel absolutely embraced by the questions
the loneliness, the joy, the questions, and the peace

I would know that the warmth that I felt
is something that I have put together
and yet I have never made myself

The music embraces me with thoughts that I could never get
from turning on just the radio
but hearing how this music has impacted others
as they have bee stretched to see the world
with new eyes, perspectives, beauty

and so i will lay myself down to hear the silence
but always keeping my ears open to someones
interpretation of how they hear the world.

why should the devil have all the good music?

I haven't been going to church lately.
I don't go because I think it's almost to real
or many times I think it's so far from my reality
and the reality of those that I love that I
just don't go.

This morning I watched the documentary "Why Should the Devil Have all the Good Music?" where the directors of the film went to Cornerstone Music Festival and talked to bands and fans about why Christian music is where it is musically and theologically in this point in history.

There were great questions posted of validity and strength of the message of Jesus. It helped me remember my question of what is Christian and what is 'secular'? I use the secular in quotes because I no longer see the need to separate the two. There is clearly a separation when all i can do is say the word Jesus and I believe in sacred spaces but at the end of the day there is clearly not a difference when the word love is used and when love is in action.

You could tell the differences in interviews of the kids who really thought about the infusion of art with their faith and those who regurgitated what someone else told them to think and infused it with their art.

I don't think I know what the right spirituality is for someone and I don't know if I know for myself. All I know is that the desire for spiritual safety or some sort of safe place to ask questions sounds like a place I desire to be.

Watching the DVD reminded me where I came from the great safe places that Cornerstone music fest allowed me to ask, allowed amazing people and friendships to come into my life, and allowed me to ask questions that challenged me spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Nothing is perfect. Christianity and it's practice is far from perfect as well.

I hope that good questions continue to be asked where we allow beauty and truth to be reintegrated with our faith practices.

a pretty song for you.

I am sipping on a cup of coffee
listening to another day by the album leaf



it is supposed to rain
and i have my favorite sweater on
my dog by my feet
attempting to find a good book to read

there is something about this simplicity that breathes new life
into the lungs that are old and tired
i think some of it has to do with the fact that i am
growing

older
up
wiser
dumber
softer
feminine
sanguine
(I like that word)

and the stacks of books in the corners of my room
are calling my name
now that I put aside the remote control
for the option of controlling the input of my own brain

thinking through the beauty of the words from Gloria Steinem
hope for equality
and peace
and desire
to have knowledge about our land
and our space
and making a difference

whatever that can mean for you....

life as it begins to bloom.

My spring mix for 2009...
Silly to think it took me about a month to make but it's damn good.

1. Hot 'N Cold--Katie Perry
2. Just Dance--Lady Gaga (it's a guilty pleasure)
3. Gobbledigoook--Sigur Ros
4. Untrust Us--Crystal Castles
5. This Package is Wrapped--Marnie Stern
6. My Girls- Animal Collective
7. What Ever Happened?--The Strokes
8. Graveyard Girl-M83
9. Kids--MGMT
10. Any Way You Want It--Journey
11. Happy As Can Be--Cut Off Your Hands
12. Halfway Home--TV on the Radio
13. A Magazine Called Sunset--Wilco
14. Magick--Ryan Adams
15. Summertime Clothes--Animal Collective
16. For Your Love-Marching Band
17. Parallelogram--Deastro
18. Wouldn't It Be Nice--The Beach Boys
19. Get It On--T. Rex

Get print here.

100 records 100 days challenge: Day One...#18 Postal Service: Give Up

DISCLAIMER**As I have pondered my challenge (and been told there are better records) and to that I agree. I am going to still do the challenge but some of the records might change. I recognize that it is supposed to be 'indie' records but what I am realizing is most of these are the first releases of records before they got picked up by a bigger label. Okay cool I get it but there are better records to talk about so I might pick them.

I will start here....


I don't know anyone who doesn't really like this record. The side project to Death Cab for Cuties Chris Walla and program smartie Jimmy Tamborello. I think we all know the songs from countless commercials...Apple and Ipods just to say a few off the top of my head. Intel using the idea of the video or the video itself for it's commercial.

The band's name was chosen due to the way in which they produced its songs. Tamborello wrote and performed instrumental tracks and then sent the DATs to Gibbard, who edited the song as he saw fit (adding his vocals along the way), sending them back to Tamborello via the United States Postal Service.

I have so many memories attached to this record. Driving on tour with Anah Aevia singing loud with my friend Lukey-T. Dancing on rooftops. Driving around in that convertible with the top down. Most of this music I love evokes many memories and this album evokes so many.

The record is fun and one of those records that is accessible without being heady and at the same time not so over produced that there are no fresh thoughts or ideas. It was good to hear it again. I close my eyes and see a time that no longer exists with people that are wonderful and fun.