That Hideous Stench

That Hideous Stench

For a long, dark week did The Stench reign in terror over it's unwitting subjects. All the land was troubled and forlorn till one arose from his meager quietude to challenge The Stench's power. Armed only with valor, anti-bacterial chemicals, and an apple cinnamon air freshener, our hero set out to face what he knew could be his final end.

Under cover of night, our hero stole quietly into The Stench's lair. At first, he thought he would not be able to stand from the strength of it. It was so pungent and revolting, that even to this day, it's memory still burns in his mind, so much so that he fears he will never be free of it.

Long into the night the battle raged. Both sides traded terrible blows, for The Stench was no willing victim. It's fury was truly awesome to behold. Yet our hero's determination could not be assuaged. With all of his might, the hero leaped upon his enemy and hewed away at his hideous, armored flesh. Caring little for his own life, but only for the death of his foe, our hero reigned blow upon blow down upon The Stench.

Just as our hero felt he would not be able to sustain his fight, The Stench recoiled in great pain and agony. With a mighty howl, The Stench collapsed to its knees. Then suddenly, before our hero's astonished eyes, The Stench disintegrated and was seen no more. On that day did our hero swear to never allow such evil to rise again in power, and did set out on a quest throughout the known land to find and destroy all such stock from which The Stench did arise.


In season, out of season
What's the difference when you don't know the reason
In one hand bread, the other a stone
The hunter enters the forest
All are not huntsmen who blow the huntsman's horn
And from the look of this one
You've not got much to fear...
- Genesis

Sometimes Its Good to Appease Family Relations

Sometimes Its Good to Appease Family Relations

I said I'd never do this on this blog, but my SIL "tagged" me, and I haven't posted in a while, so why not.

Seven Random Facts About Me

1. I was born in South Dakota

2. My profile pic is Phil Collins circa 1977

3. My house smells like sea food right now, and I don't know how to fix it. It's quite distressing.

4. There are 1,105 e-mails in my inbox at work. That constitutes less than a tenth of the e-mails stored in my Outlook.

5. I almost lost the tip of my right ring finger in a near-tragic bicycle chain incident when I was three.

6. I prefer Steve Hogarth to Fish. No contest.

7. I am unable to conclusively decide which of these pictures is funnier:




Caption on pic #1 reads, "Sense: This picture makes none." Of course, your vote, as always here at The Average Brad 2.0, is welcome on the subject. I tag Sara Jo, because she might possibly do it.

Ozone disappearing in the sky
Bud man asking us why ask why
If I could find my magazine this bug would die
I complain

China boy standing up to a tank
Southern boy living in the house of yanks
If I can't seem to get my motor bike to crank
I complain

Complain, so much easier...
- King's X

These Pretzels Are Making Me Messy

These Pretzels Are Making Me Messy

Not much explanation necessary, pretzels can be quite crummy. Ergo, my shirt is full of crumbs at the moment. Did I use the word "ergo" correctly? I'm having an internal debate right now as to whether or not I should indent paragraphs on my blog. For some reason, it seems like if I'm going to separate each paragraph with a double space, than an indent in superfluous. Accent on the "super" SJ.

I got to see Nickel Creek play last night at the wonderful Mississippi College basketball arena. Uncomfortable benches and pour acoustics aside, they really did put on a great show. Nickel Creek is one of those bands that I like a lot, but have never gotten into since so many of my friends own their CDs (I'm weird like that). I was familiar with most of the set, which was fun. It was also interesting to hear music I didn't know so well, and really experience it as they presented it.

They are all fantastic players, and their vocal harmonies are incredible. I got goosebumps a few times. They also got to do a good amount of jamming which kept things lively and interesting. I'm not sure if it was better than the Alison Krauss concert I saw last year (courtesy of Trey). It would have been nice to see them play in a place like Thalia Mara Hall. So far, live Bluegrass definitely beats live Rock music in my experience.

There was a group who held up signs reading "Short People" the whole time. I thought it was just because they were short and wanted recognition (Sorry John!). Then the band came out for their encore and announced, "We never thought we would play this song again, but there are some people who have been holding up some signs all night..." It turned out that Short People is a Randy Newman song. It's a really funny song, although it's untrue that, "short people got no reason to live." At the least they keep us tall folks entertained.


And the sun came up on a sleepy day and never went down at night
And the crowd kept on singing Waste Away but it just didn't feel right
And the prince and the drummer and the fire girls couldn't get our guitars in tune
And I knew it was over when the sound man said, "I wish we were still in June..."
- Spock's Beard

Playing With Colors

Playing With Colors

I'm still trying to decide on what color I want to accompany the new layout. I really like red, but feel its a bit polarizing (a word I'm using a lot of late it seems). Either people will like it or hate it. I had a khaki background over the weekend. I thought it was understated and neutral, but thought I might get bored with it. It also has a tendency to appear green sometimes. I don't want to do black or white, and every other color I've tried looks fruity. So right now it's a competition between "firebrick" (red) and "khaki 4". You're opinion is welcome, but is in no way guaranteed to affect the final decision.

Easter always encourages me to reconsider the significance of Christ's death and resurrection. The verse that kicked around in my head all day Sunday was Romans 4:25, which tells us that Christ was, "delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." If we are united to Christ, we are united to his risen and glorified person, and not simply to a dead and condemned savior. In other words, God does not just punish Christ in our place and than accept us as we are. Rather, he deals with our sin through Christ's death, and then unites us to a risen Savior - alive, glorified, and righteous.

I was prepared to say more about it here, but I almost feel burnt out on the subject from hearing about it at three services (including one Thursday night). What a sad thing to be burnt out on the Gospel! Really though, this weekend was a good time to remember, reflect on, and respond to what Christ has accomplished, once and for all, for his people. I wish we truly did celebrate Christ's death and resurrection every Sunday, and every day for that matter, as we did yesterday. The chief offender will now attempt to remove the log from his eye...



O cross that liftest up my head
I dare not ask to fly from thee
I lay in dust life's glory dead
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be

Around The Horn

Around The Horn

Blue Cross Sponsors Walking Program for Mississippians

They are trying to encourage us to sign up for this program at work. After reading through the website, I’m still not sure what the program is, but I’m thinking about signing up for it just for the free pedometer. I actually happen to walk quite a lot. I realize Mississippi is one of the fattest states in America, and I realize why Blue Cross would want to encourage this (it’s all about the Benjamins), but really this just makes me laugh.

Blue Cross has offered to map out a walking route specifically for our firm around the downtown, and one in our building for rainy days. Analysis: American adults are way too pampered, need to be told by their employers and insurance company to exercise, and apparently can’t even plan out walking routes for themselves.

Reminds me of a line from the Jimmy Stewart classic Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation:

Mr. Martin Turner: You haven't done much walking have you Hobbs?
Roger Hobbs: Only since I was about four years old!
(Turner proceeds to demonstrate the correct way to walk)

Watch Out for Christian Homeschooling Terrorists

Whitewashing Jihad In The Schools

More than a little disturbing...

Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

The 2007 Major League Baseball is now in full swing (ducks tomatoes), and of course, so is Fantasy Baseball. So far, my favorite player on my team is Boof Bonser. This almost beats out Coco Crisp for best name in the Majors. If you got points in Fantasy Baseball for best player names, I would be in first place.

My beloved Cubs celebrated their 300 Million dollar payroll expansion with a pathetic opening day performance. Zambrano had better sign that contract extension quick before he blows another start like that. They seem to have played better yesterday. I say get the losses out of the way early. Now summoning the ghost of Harry Carey to go get busy dismantling that Billy Goat Curse...


Six million ants crawling on a plate
Six million ants crawling on a plate
None of them give back
As much as they take
That is a fact of life
- King Crimson

Living Forever

Living Forever

Two songs from Genesis caught my attention last night. I was listening to We Can't Dance, the bands last real album, as Phil Collins left the band shortly after it was recorded. I chuckled as I realized that some of the topics were very adult. No, not in that sort of way. Adult in the sense that they were singing about problems and issues and topics that adults would care about, as opposed to the average youth.

In Living Forever Collins complains about how "they" tell us to do one thing to stay healthy and live longer one day, and then, based on new research, tell us the complete opposite another. It was really quite funny to think that the band was doing something very Rock & Rollish in writing an angsty (for adult contemporary) song complaining about people telling us how to be. Only this is middle age and not teenage angst. The album closes with a fitting tribute to the band's past, which seems to acknowledge that the band was coming to a close. Fading Lights remarks that "these are the times of our lives" and urges us to "remember."

At this point, I was struck by the fact that life and times are passing. We watched a concert by geriatric rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis the other night. He is 71 and he looks it. It got me thinking about the age of some of my favorite musicians, many of whom are in their mid 50's. In the short span of Rock & Roll's history, the originators of the movement (those who survived into old age) are getting older and will soon be passing on, and now the second and third generation of rock musicians are in their 50's and 40's. Phil Collins is 55, Neil Peart is 54. Even Eddie Vedder, who's band Pearl Jam was spearheading the youth-driven Grunge movement as recently as the early 90's, is now 41 (having outlived several of his contemporaries in the Grunge scene).

In the long span of history, Rock & Roll is a fifty year old phenomenon. It remains to be seen if history will regard it's members as worth noting in say, two or three hundred years. Eventually, it's progenitors will be mere memories, and will only remain for those who "remember." Something that in my lifetime and over the last half century has seemed so important to so many people is very transient, and may well be a very temporary and perhaps inconsequential movement when history rolls on.

A friend of mine is fighting a life-threatening medical condition, and his quality of life may never be the same. I was reminded by my Mom yesterday to be thankful of things like the ability to take a walk on a pleasant day. In the past I've had a habit of marking when the seasons change by saying to myself, "enjoy this spring [summer, fall, etc.], you may never see another one like it." I realized yesterday that I have come to expect a certain constancy from life. I may think to myself that this might be the last spring I experience, but mentally I also note that it will come again, just like it did last year. Likewise, I get a certain feeling every time I take the exit for Fortification street, which leads to my neighborhood. Having lived in Belhaven for over six years now, there have been many times in the past where I've noted that exit sign and thought, "this might not be home forever," yet I've come to expect that it will be.

But it won't be. The Bible reminds us that this world is not our home, but that we seek a heavenly dwelling place. The things of this earth are passing. Psalm 90 reminds us, "The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away." Ephesians 5 says, "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."

I recently read an interview with Nick Mason from Pink Floyd. He was asked why he thought that Dark Side of The Moon was such an enduring recording. He answered, "I think Roger's [Waters] lyrics work incredibly well, they are still relevant today and, rather extraordinarily, they are particularly relevant to an older generation. They could have been written by a 40- or 50-year-old rather than by a 20-something-year-old. The thing about time passing and losing out and all the rest of it." It is interesting that, in an art-form that glorifies youth and creates a facade that tries to defy the passage of time, one of Rock's highest selling and most enduring statements is about the fleeting nature time.

The shortness of time is universally relevant, and something that everyone must deal with. The Psalmist reminds us that time is short and then comes judgment. Many hope to prolong their lives, but they are ignoring the inevitable; "Who considers the power of Your anger, and Your wrath according to the fear of You?" Judgment awaits those who do not fear God for His justice and trust in Christ for His mercies. The Psalmist's prayer is timeless and true when he says, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."


Sorry is the fool who trades his soul for a corvette
Thinks he'll get the girl, he'll only get the mechanic
What's missing?
He's living a day he'll soon forget

That's one more time around, the sun is going down
The moon is out, but he's drunk and shouting, putting people down
He's pissing,
He's living a day he'll soon forget...

That's one more time around, there is not a sound
He's lying dead clutching Benjamins
Never put the money down
He's stiffening
We're all whistling
A man we'll soon forget
- Pearl Jam

Replaying The Classics And Crying With The Crows

Replaying The Classics And Crying With The Crows

I've had my new Dell laptop for two weeks now. I must be lucky, because unlike so many other folks, my battery has not exploded, my computer didn't arrive bogged down with "bloatware," I haven't been attacked by any malicious viruses, and the supposedly lousy Windows Vista hasn't given me any problems yet. I count my blessings every morning.

So, I've been busy ripping my considerable CD collection to my hard drive. This has made for hours of entertainment. It has been a lot of fun going through my collection and pulling out some CDs that I haven't listened to in some time. There are some really good CDs hiding in the forgotten regions of my collection.

Under the Table and Dreaming by Dave Matthews Band is one of the first CDs I bought. It hasn't really been forgotten so much as under-appreciated. When I got to college and found out that everyone liked Dave Matthews Band, I lost a lot of interest in them. This is the band at their best though, before they became superstars and Dave still performed in his pajamas.

I remember the day I got my hands on Chroma Key's first two CDs Dead Air for Radios and You Go Now. It was the Thanksgiving break of my first year at Belhaven. Dead Air for Radios became one of my all time favorite CDs, while You Go Now seemed half-hearted and got overshadowed. However, I forgot how much I listened to both of them at the time. As such, You Go Now replays with a lot of old memories. There is some angry, depressed stuff on there! Anyway, I think You Go Now could use some reconsideration on my part. It's unique but strong recording.

I go way back with Counting Crows also. Their live album Across a Wire is the band at its best. I'm usually distrustful of live albums. Often the sound quality suffers, or the music is a stale reproduction of the studio recording. The Crows rearranged a lot of these songs, half of which are acoustic, while the other half is electric. That's not terribly original, but the performances stand out above and beyond many of the studio recordings. Sullivan Street is a great example of this. I also really like the versions of Raining in Baltimore and Anna Begins better than the album versions. The other notable performances are the acoustic Have You Seen Me Lately and the reinterpreted Mr. Jones.

I've heard a lot of negative things about Adam Duritz' stage presentation, but that certainly isn't the case on Across a Wire. He manages to sing many of his lines better than on some of the studio recordings. He's an earnest human voice behind some bleeding heart lyrics. His honesty keeps it from getting too sentimental. I've talked about his lyrics before, but how can you not shed a tear with the guy when he sings things like, "When everybody loves me, I hope I never get lonely." and, "It's good for everybody to hurt somebody once in a while. The things I do to people I love shouldn't be allowed." Duritz and I shared a few moments this weekend. Across a Wire is one of a handful of live albums that have made that kind of an impact on me.

I even dusted off my best of Bon Jovi CD after I heard one of the songs on the radio. That guy used to have a really good voice. Age has not treated it well though. Momma, don't let your boys grow up to be cowboys. Particularly not the kind that rides on a steel horse with a six string on his back. He'll only go down in a blaze of glory.


It was me and my sidekick
He was drunk and I was sick
We were caught up in a barroom fight
Till an Indian shot out the light

I'm so tired of being tired
Sure as night will follow day
Most things I worry about
Never happen anyway...
- Tom Petty

Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day!!

And what a happy day it is! Punxsutawney Phil warbled out of his warm, cozy hole with all the confidence and gusto necessary to face the new day. And afraid of his shadow, he was not! This means, my friends, that spring is most certainly on its way to an early arrival. This is only the 14th time since 1886 that Phil has predicted an early spring - a rare event which may not happen again in our lifetimes!

Of course, this news could not come at a better time. This cold is starting to hammer me down. I don't think I can take six more weeks. Here's to spring, and here's to our hero Punxsutawney Phil! Hip, hip, hooray!!

Routine was the theme...
He'd wake up, wash and pour himself
Into uniform
Something he hadn't imagined being...

As the merging traffic passed
He found himself staring
Down... at his own hands
Not remembering the change, not recalling the plan
Was it...?

He was okay
But wondering about wandering
Was it age?... By consequence?... or was he moved by
Sleight of hand?
- Pearl Jam

As the Streets of This City Tear Themselves Apart

As the Streets of This City Tear Themselves Apart

Every day entropy seems to greet me with a new pothole, as if to say, "don't you forget about me." 80s movies that everyone should have to see once before they die... The Breakfast Club is up on that list somewhere. You thought this post was gonna be about urban violence didn't you? Entropy is a little bit harder at work in Mississippi than in some other parts of the world. We like to call it Yazoo Clay.

XTC's Nonsuch kept me thoroughly entertained on Saturday night. Oh the boundless joys of clever and silly lyrics! Nonsuch is a satisfying blend of social satire, psychedelic flower celebration, and quirky love songs, set to Brian Wilson styled harmony and told with nursery rhyme charm. There are a few unfortunate instances of that distinctly British sexual innuendo throughout though. Nick Davis works his production genius to create a marvelous sounding album. I find a new favorite line every time I listen.

Everytime I look at my watch
I'm reminded we are poor in hours per day
Every second spent with her's a
Bulging wallet overstuffed with angels pay

This time last year I was conducting "Overhype the Super Bowl Week" on my old Xanga blog. While I once again have little to no interest in the Super Bowl, I did read this interesting article on ESPN.com about the evolution of the halftime show and the glamor surrounding the event.

Who knew that Up With People did four halftime shows in the late 70s and early 80s? Also of note, halftime performers go on for free. When you broadcast to 160 countries, I guess you have that bargaining power. There are a bunch of stories about prima donna performers who refused to be held to some contract or network policy. I expect that kind of thing from Janet Jackson, but Garth Brooks? Did you know that CBS accidentally broadcast footage of the Tienanmen Square massacre into China in 2004? This continues to hamper relations between the NFL and the Chinese government, go figure!

I'm picking it anyway. Colts 58, Bears 26. Yep, you heard it here first folks, there's gonna have to be a safety or something in there somewhere! The best Super Bowl halftime show ever is still, hands down, The Mighty Bomb Jack Show.


And the delta sun burns bright and violent

Mississippi and the cotton wool heat
Sixty-Six the highway speaks
Of deserts dry, of cool green valleys
Gold and silver veins, shining cities

In this heartland...
- U2

I've Got All This Space and Nobody to Decorate It

Notable Recently Heard Song Lyrics

Some world-views are spacious, and some are merely spaced
- Rush

I've got all this space and no money to decorate it...
...I wanna reach down and pick the crowd up
- Temple of the Dog

Fist on my plate, swallowed it down
- Pearl Jam

Press my face up to the window to see how warm it is inside
See the things that I've been missing, missing all this time
- Beck

Come my joy, come my love, come also my heart
Such a joy as none can move could probably move me
Such a love as none can part, such a heart as joys in love
I can feel it beginning to move me
Ooh, ooh, Good Lord! Ooh it's really beginning to move now
Ooh, ooh, very quickly now I'd say
In fact I think probably I'm going to have to go now...
OOH, OOH, OOOOHHH!!!
- Robert Fripp (with ridiculous Cockney accent)(MP3)


More Adventures in Mississippi

As we turned onto the gravel road it became apparent that we were getting closer. At a house in the woods, outside of Vicksburg, near a town called Bovina, we were going to participate in an authentic Mississippi hog roast! A pig on a large grill and a few scraps of goat in a smaller one for good measure were only the beginnings of the potluck feast before us. The real feast though, was not carnal in nature, but rather musical. A dozen musicians or more armed with banjos, guitars, fiddles, dulcimers, and one washboard gathered on the back deck to carry on an old Southern tradition.

This was the Mississippi Old Time Music Society, and we were their audience. We wandered the grounds with the strains of banjo floating in the air behind us. A walk around the wooded property revealed a pen of chickens, four-wheeler tracks, and a fishing pond. (We were informed that the "chickens" were actually something called a "Moa." However, it should be noted that this researcher can find no evidence of a chicken like bird called the Moa. Rather, the Moa was apparently a large flightless bird native to New Zealand which is now extinct.) Unseasonable 70 degree weather ensured our enjoyment of the afternoon.

We returned in time to partake of the country cooked feast, which we ate as we listened to the the screechings and scratchings of blue-grass and gospel. All the while we pondered the nature of life. Was man meant to live off the land with elbow room to spare, or in the close quarters of the city with the society of other humans? One thing was for sure, man was meant to partake of good food, express himself through good music, and fellowship with fine friends.

Back down the dirt road, onto the pavement, and then to the highway, we made our return to the more familiar scenery of Jackson and Belhaven. Whether your home is in the rural haunts of the countryside, the bustle of urbanity, or the quietude of suburbia, it is the opinion of this writer that one should be content to be able to enjoy the best all worlds whenever he can.


He came from an island
And then he died from the street
And he hurt so bad like a soul breaking
But he never said nothing to me
Say hello to heaven...
- Temple of the Dog

Here Comes the Flood

Here Comes the Flood

If I had to pick a quintessential Peter Gabriel song, it would probably be Here Comes the Flood. While Wallflower is my personal favorite, there is a depth to the lyrics of Flood that allows it to take on various meanings, lending itself to reinterpretation through different performances. That helps to explain why I own four different recordings of the song.

Originally recorded in 1977, Gabriel was reportedly unsatisfied with the bombastic nature of the full band performance on the track. He favored a simpler piano accompaniment. I first became familiar with the version Gabriel recorded in 1990 for his first greatest hits compilation, Shaking the Tree (it also appears on his 2003 compilation Hit). It is a stunning departure from the original, just Gabriel's voice and his piano. While I usually give credence to original versions, I had always viewed the 1990 version as the definitive recording of this song.

However, the completist in me couldn't resist checking out the other available version of the song. Gabriel had developed a close working relationship with King Crimson's Robert Fripp over the recording of his first two solo albums. This yielded a collaboration between the two on Fripp's 1979 solo album Exposure. Gabriel got to re-record Here Comes the Flood with the simple piano accompaniment he wanted, while Fripp added an intro and outro (Water Music I and II) and some frippertronics to the track, and Brian Eno stitched a few sparse keyboards into the whole thing. To me, it contains the perfect balance between the full band version and the simplified ‘90 recording.

It gets better though. After a mess of record company obstructions and objections altered the 1979 release, Fripp ended up remixing and re-releasing Exposure in 1983. This resulted in yet another version of Here Comes the Flood. Basically the same track, the vocals were brought more to the forefront and the whole thing was given a much warmer, fuller sound. Some of Fripp's guitar on the first chorus was removed, and another keyboard section was added over both choruses.

I loved how the extra guitar tracks from the earlier version build up through the first chorus. If I ran the world, I would have kept the instrumentation as it is on the '79 version and given it the polishing it received on the '83 version. But I don't, so for now I'll have to live with competing versions of the song until one day when I do run the world (In fact, I think the '90 version has the best overall vocal performance, so I would slap that on the '79 version too if I could). The whole Exposure album has been beautifully remastered and contains both versions of the song.

I've never been able to put my finger on what exactly the song is about. I first heard it during my senior year of college while I was studying philosophy. At the time every song seemed to deal with the existential crisis of modern man lost in a cruel universe without God, values, or hope. I do think there is an element of that in the song. Stranded starfish waiting for the "swollen Easter tide" seems like a reference to modern life without religious hope. What the flood itself is, is harder to pinpoint, but I think it has to do with the ever-changing world in which we live. Existence is not static being, but rather, fluid becoming.

The song also has important associations with the end of the year for me. It actually sounds a little bit like Auld Lang Syne. The lyrics deal with continual change, and there is an ominous tone of something about to break which has been holding back "the flood" until now. Reflection, transience, and expectation all seem to meet in the lyrics and instrumentation. The Fripp version includes a sound clip during Water Music I of a narrorator describing cataclysmic climate change, rising sea levels, and the flooding of major cities. I think this song captures the essence of uncertainty and frailty in a world, seemingly, without absolutes or hope in anything beyond the natural order of things. Humanity tossed along on a sea of chance. It is the dreamer, the one who chooses his own reality, who will be able to survive in such a world. "Drink up dreamers you're running dry."

A rare song that merits multiple interpretations and repeated listenings.


When the night shows the signals grow on radios
All the strange things, they come and go as early warnings
Stranded starfish have no place to hide
Still waiting for the swollen easter tide
There's no point in direction
We cannot even choose a side

I took the old track, the hollow shoulder across the waters
On the tall cliffs they were getting older, sons and daughters
The jaded underworld was riding high
In waves of steel held metal at the sky
And as the nail sunk in the cloud
The rain was warm and soaked the crowd

When the flood calls you have no home, you have no walls
In that thunder crash you're a thousand minds within a flash
Don't be afraid to cry at what you've seen
The actor's gone there's only you and me
And if we break before the dawn
They'll use up what we used to be

Lord, here comes the flood
We will say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again the seas are silent in any still alive
It'll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up dreamers you're running dry

A Dense Fog

A Dense Fog

It had set in the night before, but I was still surprised to be greeted come morning by a dense fog. Though the pillar of cloud appeared to block my way, the cotton ball aura yeilded to my car as I turned out of the driveway and onto the road. O coma way o coma way say I, sang U2 as I made my way through the neighborhood. I wasn't so much coma way-ing as goina way-ing to work. A new day obscured by clouds.

Life appears as a scene obscured by a dense fog. Events in the present are visible, moreso the closer they come. Events in the future or past, in front or behind, become hazy and eventually invisible. Experience and present view give an idea of what lies ahead, but only that. Efforts to project into the future, like high beams that shine back off of fog, often prove futile and have the unintended effect of blinding the view to the present.

On through the mist, the world white washed in wetness, I continued on my way. The skyline is still purified by the lather of clouds stretching up and over my twelth floor window. Awake without caffein, I wait for the coffee to be ready. Anticipation of future events confused with the awareness of the present and the memory of the past.


And you know it's time to go
Through the sleet and driving snow
Across the fields of mourning to a
Light that's in the distance

And you hunger for the time
Time to heal, desire, time
And your earth moves beneath
Your own dream landscape

Oh, oh, on borderland we run...
- U2

The Word of the Day is...

The Word of the Day is...

MacGuffin

Apparently coined by Alfred Hitchcock himself. I'm most impressed by the example from G.I. Joe.


At the moment when she knew we couldn't see
She came up from the ocean, driven by the sea
And she kept on hangin' round like she would never leave
In between the wind and rain she screamed...
- King's X

What a Perfect Mess

What a Perfect Mess

I've decided that the cleanliness of my apartment is exemplified by the condition of the blinds in my living room. I have two windows on one wall, and, thus, two sets of blinds. When I moved in, the blinds were caked with a layer of dust and grime that initial efforts failed to clean. When my brother moved in, he was determined to fix that. He spent about two days working at one set. Then he gave up too. Now one set of blinds is (fairly) clean and white, while the other is still a grimy gray.

The two sets now serve as symbols similar to Yin and Yang, representing my general attitude about cleaning. The white represents the extremes of cleanliness, and the dingy gray represents the apathy towards dirt that "doesn't hurt." When balanced against each other, these attitudes achieve an equilibrium of general cleanliness about the place.

The obvious and necessary parts of my house are kept rather clean (the carpet, the dishes, most of the bathroom), while the less noticeable parts (the corners behind the furniture, the dust on the blinds, the extra cabinets that I don't have anything to put in) are left well enough alone. The other day I noticed a family of spiders hanging out in the corner of the livingroom. At first I was startled and thought I should do something. Then I realized, "hey, as long as they eat the other bugs, they can stay." Generally, my motto is, "if you don't get it dirty, you won't have to clean it." These are principles that all men should live by, in all areas of life, I think...

In other news, I've re-discovered the joys of sweat pants. Why have I been depriving myself for so long? Warm, soft, flexible -- every man's best friend! Especially well suited for long, cold days (and nights) spent at home while nursing an illness, or for lounging around on the weekends. However, don't allow your new friend too much license. If you aren't sweating, you probably shouldn't take him out in public.

Mad props to Aquafresh. 24 years cavity free and counting. I should get paid for this type of publicity.


Speak to me in a language I can hear
Humour me before I have to go
Deep in thought I forgive everyone
As the cluttered streets greet me once again
I know I can't be late, supper's waiting on the table
Tomorrow's just an excuse away
So I pull my collar up and face the cold, on my own

The earth laughs beneath my heavy feet
At the blasphemy in my old jangly walk
Steeple guide me to my heart and home
The sun is out and up and down again
I know I'll make it, love can last forever
Graceful swans of never topple to the earth
And you can make it last, forever
You can make it last, forever you...
- Billy Corgan

This Day Keeps Getting Better and Better

This Day Keeps Gettin Better and Better

I happen to be reading (or finally finishing) C.S. Lewis' space trilogy right now, so during lunch today I checked out Lewis' biography on Wikipedia. I had heard this before, but it was intersting to note that Lewis died the same day that President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Then I read the "On this day" segment on the main page and realized that today is the actual anniversary of Lewis' and Kennedy's respective demizes. It also happens to be Greg Hawkin's birthday.

So, happy home-going to you Clive Staples Lewis! President Kennedy, I haven't much to say to you. And G, have a happy birthday and knock back an Amber Boch for me! It certainly is a noteworthy day in world history!



Ok, hey, I'm goin' outside you can put the plate back on the shelf
And it's cold, though the snow isn't falling
The neighbor can speak for himself
And the cold, hard look in your eye is more than a line in the sand
And the truth gets hard to imagine the hours get harder to stand

He's a seasick terminal passenger singing this song to himself
Til the soul bought soul on his skelleton leaks into somebody else
He's a sea-saw caught in a storm, a hurrican after the war
When he drinks all the blood you can offer he still wants more

Now the planes and rumbling trains
Are shaking the ground in our town again
Thought it twice, kicking the ice
I got myself turned back around singin'
Everything's gonna be fine
I'm sure that we'll both be OK

Hey, I'm back and outside now just put the plate back on the shelf
And its cold, though the snow isn't falling
The temperature speaks for itself
Its a moonlit reason to quit, and nobody answers the phone
So if there's still blood left in your body I'll come back
Home
- Kevin Moore

The Foolishness of Paragraphs that are Better as One Word

The Foolishness of Paragraphs that are Better as One Word

The beginning of this Thanksgiving week finds us remembering Kevin Gilbert, who's birthday was today. I'm not one to jump on the dead hero bandwagon, but I'll recognize the influence Gilbert had on my musical landscape. Not only did he write Sharyl Crow's "All I Wanna Do," he produced the first two Spock's Beard albums, and was a major influence on Neal Morse and Nick D'Virgilio. He also inspired the songs "The Great Nothing" by Spock's Beard and "I Was Not Ready for You" by Mike Keneally. For a guy who wrote sarcastic folk-pop and who got his break engineering sessions for Michael Jackson and Madonna, Gilbert really did set the stage for a large segment of the nineties prog rock revival. Before his death, he was in line to replace Phil Collins in Genesis, and was supposed to produce what became Dream Theater's Falling Into Infinity album. I've been enjoying his album Thud for the last week. Pretty sad guy, but he turned a great rhyme. We'll be singing nah, nah, nah when we all fall down...

The Cubs are about to sign Alfonso Soriano to an eight year, gazillion dollar contract. That's pretty cool, except that it appears Juan Pierre won't be coming back, leaving us with a leadoff man who hit 40 homers last year. This guy has to bat down in the lineup if he's gonna do us any good. I'm still waiting to see how Jim Hendry plans on fixing the pitching problem.

I was contemplating the existence of Eskimos last night. I live in Mississippi and get cranky when the temperature drops below 40. It boggles my mind that people live in Alaska. So I wonder, how did Eskimos and other northern folk ever learn to survive up there? These people make houses out of snow. That is absolutely amazing. Crazy, but amazing nonetheless.

So this Thanksgiving, I'm thankful that I don't live in a house made out of snow, and that it is only 38 degrees outside, instead of 60 below. I'm trying to be mindful of the many blessings of modern America, and not be an ungrateful materialist. I've constantly been reminded this year that very few people in the history of the world have the wealth, convenience, and opportunity that I do. The overwhelming majority of people in the world live in extreme poverty (Why are little ones born only to suffer, for the want of immunity or a bowl of rice?)

I'm also reminded of the friends I have who are spending Thanksgiving on the mission field in China, Ukraine, Ethiopia, and Nigeria without all the American conveniences we take for granted. Let's not pull any punches, it's idolatrous to be thankful for "blessings" in the abstract. Our treasure is Christ, and our God is the one worthy of thanksgiving:

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

"Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content."

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ"

(Case in point, I'm thankful for www.crosswalk.com, the Bible online in every modern English translation. People have died to have the Bible in their language, and so many people don't have it. I can search the whole thing on the net.)

No One Notices the Contrast of White of White

No One Notices the Contrast of White on White

Music created out of depression can be starkly beautiful. The history of art is riddled with the stories of tormented souls trying to express themselves. Is it any surprise that themes of sadness, despair, rejection, loneliness, anger, and cynicism resonate with people almost universally?

Kevin Gilbert, a bright songwriter who lived a tragic life and suffered a despicable death wrote the line, "and everybody has someone they can share their sadness with" in the satirical Joytown, a song about a place that doesn't exist. People are in sad shape. While listening to Rush's Presto album last week, I was struck by the songs The Pass and Red Tide. The first deals with trying to talk a friend out of suicide, and the second is about modern epidemics, environmental disaster, and the ability of technologically advanced humans to kill others and themselves more efficiently. I realized, unbelievers have everything to worry about, because anything that threatens their own world threatens everything they have. See Neil Peart's Ghost Rider for a good example of this.

I dusted off Counting Crows' debut album August and Everything After last night. This is an amazing album musically and lyrically, one of those albums with a sound that fills up and changes the mood in a room. The critics loved this thing when it came out. Singer Adams Duritz is the perfect tragic Romeo character, desperately sad but loveable. He and all the characters in his songs have problems, and you get the sense that he is sharing your problems and singing about them for you.

In the song Mr. Jones, Duritz theorizes, "when everybody loves me, I'm gonna be just about as happy as I can be." When Counting Crows' follow up album Recovering the Satellites included more songs about depression and a retrospective on how life as a rockstar wasn't all that great, the critics became very unhappy with Mr. Duritz, labelling him a hypocritic whiner. Subsequent Crows albums have still included that air of melancholy, but haven't captured the pristine sadness of their first two works. They haven't affected me at all in the same way.

In real life, Duritz seems to be kind of a lousy guy. He apparently went Brian Wilson a few years ago, staying home for a year, not shaving, and refusing to record or play live because he couldn't handle criticism. I can't say I blame him. If he's down and out, the critics don't want to hear him whine. If he's writing happy-cheery songs, the fans are unhappy. At this point, I would rather the guy get his life together and never make another classic, depressed Counting Crows album. It's kind of selfish to hope that your favorite songwriters stay depressed so they'll keep making good music.

All this begs questions about art in general. Authenticity is very valuable in art, and most people are genuinely suffering. Christians should be able to recognize this, and be mindful of the fact that coming from unbelievers, good art is art that tells us about the condition in which they find themselves. Likewise, Christian artists shouldn't gloss over the troubles that are present in their own lives, as unbelievers will smell a fake. I think it is important to make the contrast as vivid and real as possible, to accurately portray the effects of sin in the world, admit our own weakness, and then be able to demonstrate the real hope that we have.


I got bones beneath my skin, and mister
There's a skeleton in every man's house
Beneath the dust and love
and sweat that hangs on everybody
There's a dead man trying to get out
Please help me stay awake, I'm falling

Asleep in perfect blue buildings
Beside the green apple sea
Gonna get me a little oblivion, baby
Try to keep myself away from me
- Counting Crows

Canadian Cowboy

Canadian Cowboy

"When I'm writing lyrics I always wear a cowboy hat, because I figure that you can never take yourself too seriously with a cowboy hat on."

I find this quotation from our favorite songwriter and drum guru Neil Elwood Peart to be hysterical. Good advice for the average joe rock star wannabe. The mental image got me thinking, "I wonder if there are any pictures?" Then I decided to make my own. Get along little dogie!




We should all wear cowboy hats more often.


We can rise and fall like empires
Flow in and out like the tide
Be vain and smart, humble and dumb
We can hit and miss like pride

We can circle around like hurricanes
Dance and dream like lovers
Attack the day like birds of prey
Or scavengers under cover
- Neil Peart

When Today is as Far as We Can See

When Today is as Far as We Can See

Had a few items collect over the last week for posting...

Books A Million - I realized that Books A Million is the anti-Borders or Barnes & Noble. The place has absolutely no atmosphere. It is all white, the music is this tacky muzak, the chairs are a strange grey leather, and there is no hint of interior decorating. Still, I somehow found myself at home there. I ended up spending an hour or so reading in one of their cushy, grey chairs, all the while catching a spattering of employee conversation. I thought to myself, "These are real people, and this is a real store," not some manipulated environment created by Trading Spaces designer wannabees. Hats off to BAM.

Why was Brad Reading Anyway? - That's a good question. I finally got around to picking up Neil Peart's Ghost Rider. I read about two chapters in the store and decided I had to take it home. Great stuff as always from my favorite all around writer. Engaging non-fiction that is as poetic as his song lyrics - really holds my attention. Ghost Rider is the story of Peart's self imposed motorcylce exile following the death of both his daughter and "wife" within a two year period. I'm always intrigued by how poeple deal with loss. Rush's Vapor Trails album was the musical counterpart to this book, so it is cool to gain new insight into Peart's process of recovery which was hinted at in his lyrics. It's interesting to me that a common reaction to the loss of close family always seems to be guilt: at still being alive, at not being grieved enough, or of not being able to save the person you loved. I wonder if believers and non-believers share this struggle in the same way. One dissapointment was finding out that Peart was married to his "wife" only by common-law. Not surprising for someone who doesn't "believe" in God to not take any vows to demonstrate his commitment to his spouse. Note to self, agnostics make bad role models. "I'm not a role model, I'm a drummer. I just hit things with sticks."

Man is Not Free - So long as man must depend on another man to cut his hair, man is not free. At best, man can hope by force of will to cause another man (or woman) to give him the hair cut he desires. Yet the lack of perfect communication between different entities will always prevent the exact replication of the cuttee's desires by the cutter. Sometimes lack of communication will prevent the cuttee from getting inside the shop of the cutter.

They're There to Protect Us - Why is it that I wave to everybody I see in the neighborhood except for the security folks? Why do they make me feel so nervous? I think it is because I feel that they are outsiders, not actually part of the neighborhood. It is the reverse feeling I have when I drive around in a different neighborhood. I feel like everyone knows I don't belong and is suspicious of me. Weird huh?

1 Timothy 2:13-15 - For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

I've always read this and wondered how the woman is saved through childbearing. Maybe it has to do with the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent. But I think the reason this verse seems so strange is that our society disparages the role of childbearing in womanhood. It is seen as optional, something a woman may or may not do in her lifetime. While some women are not called to be mothers, the Bible teaches the exact opposite of what is generally accepted in our culture. Childbearing is closely tied to what it means to be a woman. I think the refusal of a woman to have children is being paralleled with Eve's original transgression in the garden, in which she denied her God given roll as subservient to God through Adam's headship.

90125 - Every time I think I've exhausted the best of music from the 80's, I uncover another hidden gem. Well, this was more like a recovery than a discovery. I'm not a huge Yes fan, but I can't deny the exuberant catchiness of this record. I've always held the belief, albeit a tenuous one, that if people had more 80's rock in their lives, they would be a lot more positive. Listen to Our Song and tell me if having that bass line in your head doesn't give you a little pep in your step. It did for me on my way into work. Thank you Mr. Squire!


Foot upon the stair
Shoulder to the wheel
You can't tell yourself not to care
You can't tell yourself how to feel

That's how it is

It's such a cloudy day
Seems we'll never see the sun
Or feel the day has possibilities
Frozen in the moment - the lack of imagination
Between how it is and how it ought to be...
- Neil Peart

The Importance of Being Man

The Importance of Being Man

I've been thinking again. I know, dangerous you say. Well, I'm open to correction or rebuke on this one, whichever is necessary.

One of the things that I think can become confusing about Christianity is what it has to say about man's worth. Sure, as Reformed Christians we affirm what the Bible teaches about the fallen state of man. All mankind, since Adam, has rebelled against its creator, is born in sin, and is thus worthy of condemnation. There is none who is righteous, none who seeks after God, and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Then one considers the incarnation again, and things get squirrly. The Son of God lays aside the glory of being God, and veils himself in human flesh, taking on a human nature (all while still being God), and lives and dies on behalf of fallen men, in whom there is nothing lovely or worthy of such grace. It's pretty difficult to wrap your mind around Christ's two natures. It is so easy to emphasize one over the other.

It occurred to me recently, that if Christ was God, than the incarnation should have been a sinch. I mean, what is 30 years to an eternal God? What is the minuscule temptation of the flesh for the one who created all flesh and who commands the angels in heaven? You might even say, when considering this, that the deck was stacked in Christ's favor. Well, certainly it was. There was never any chance of Christ failing in his mission, because God had determined and bound himself via covenant to redeem fallen man. It was over when God gave the covenant to Abraham. It was as good as done when God promised Adam and Eve that one of their seed would crush the serpent. It was finished before it started, in a way. God cannot be thwarted.

I'm not going to try to figure out, much less explain, the correlation between God's perfect decrees and the will of man. However, there is a balance there, and I think it was present in the incarnation. In other words, Christ was a real man and he experienced that fully (short of possessing a sinful nature). But what really strikes me, is that the incarnation, and the value of Christ's life and death demonstrate the value of man. Schaeffer uses the term, "the mannishness of man." Man is made in the likeness of almighty God, and in spite of his sin he still bears God's image. Thus his feelings, desires, and emotions have worth. There is something about man that is noble, valuable, and significant. The incarnation proves this.

First, it was no mere pin prick that Christ experienced in his life and death on earth. The pain and suffering he felt was real, and it was valuable. We know from scripture that God cares about human suffering. He knows our needs in intimate detail. God has granted humans significance. "What is man that you are mindful of him, yet you have made him a little lower than the angels." If being a man were an insignificant thing, than I believe the incarnation would be less significant, and the death Christ died wouldn't seem all that great.

Secondly, if man were not created noble and righteous and for greatness, than the fall would be less significant. At various points throughout history, different theologians and philosophers have tried to explain the fall as being the natural result of a created being which was by definition imperfect. I think we can degrade God's creation too much in this way. Rather, consider the depth of depravity that a righteous being, made in God's image and having fellowship with his creator, has fallen to in his sin. If you begin to get a sense of man's importance than you begin to understand the wrath of God that our sins deserve. To whom much is given much is required.

Finally, if this is so, than the judgment poured out on Christ becomes all the more significant. Human suffering is a real and significant thing, because human nature is significant. Sin is a significant thing, because the status of man is significant. And the wrath of God towards sin is significant, because of this. It was no small suffering that Christ experienced on the cross. The full wrath of God was placed on Christ in the place of all whom God had chosen to save. This was the complete wrath of God, that not even the most depraved sinner can ever fully exhaust in Hell. Certainly, this would not be possible if Christ were only human. However, all of this emphasizes the point that we have a great high priest who can sympathize with our weakness, because he is fully man -- a significant thing.

Secular philosophy sees Christianity as devaluing and degrading to man. It denies man his pleasures and confines him to the chains of obedience to a higher being. Certainly, this philosophy in itself is the mind set of rebellion. However, as Christians, we have the ability to demonstrate the value of man, that Christ would identify with us and elevate us to an even higher status than that in which we were created. We shall be called sons of God.

And it's all because you made me see
What is false and what is true
Like the inside and the outside of me
Is being made again by you
- Marillion