musicmusicmusic

So, I’m doing one of my comedic monologues for an arts benefit next Monday night.  I kind of forgot that they also want me to sing a few songs.  It’s a women’s event… based around my monologue “Five Inch Heels.”  Scary!  I’m actually really looking forward to it, but I have no idea what kind of songs go with this sort of event. 

Songs!  I need good songs to sing.  Lightweight topically, in my vocal range, as interesting as Regina Spektor without being as complex pitch-wise, and preferably simple enough that I can accompany myself on the piano.  ha. 

So far my options are:

• “One of Those Days” or “Charmed Life” by Joy Williams
• “Taylor the Latte Boy”-Kristen Chenoweth
• “Fallin for You” – Colbie Caillat

Also, I have no chords as of yet for the above songs.  

Songs about shoes would be fun, but all I can think of are “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Walkin’ in Memphis” (which makes no sense for me to sing), and “These Boots were made for Walking.”  

Broadway miiight be fun.  Or just broadway style singers…maybe a song each from Kristin Chenoweth, Audra McDonald, and Idina Menzel?

My own songs are probably too melancholy (’cause that’s how I roll).  

Suggestions? Opinions on the above songs?  I appreciate all the help I can get from my massive blog readership (haha… I miss facebook). Help!  I have to e-mail my set today!

<3

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

What is wrong with these people?  Really?!  Makes me so mad I’m typing in sentence fragments even more than usual. 

Churches Denounce African Children as “witches”

I can’t believe the way these pastors are twisting the Bible. The girl is a witch because she likes to sleep outside? 1693 Puritans… hello? This is even beyond the absurd frenzy of the Salem saga.  Brutality against the defenseless in the name of Jesus is absolutely horrifying.  I’ll bet He’s way more angry about it than I am.  Helen Ukpabio, I feel sorry for you. 

I’m glad I believe in a final day of justice.  This world is so screwed up.  

 

Matthew 18.  The one who humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

ummmm….

 

 

 

 

 

This kind of sounds like me these days.  um.  

that’s embarassing. 

:-]

something’s got to change

As I was mindlessly surfing internetland today (yahoo to twitter to blogs), I came across this video.  Ouch!  Even without facebook right now, I can still waste so much time online.  I love this clip, though.  Josh Harris has a way of preaching a really convicting message while managing to be hilarious about it.

Also, I listened to this song really closely today for the first time.   Josh Wilson is incredible.

Yeah… so… I think I’m closing this browser window right about now.

do any of you lack wisdom?

Um… yes?  Hey… that’s me, right here.  So what do I do about it?

Well, “if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”

Cool.  Hey, Mr. James.

“Yeah”

Can I personalize this a little.  ‘Cause, it says “he” and “him” a lot.

“Sure. I was using a generally inclusive pronoun”

Thanks.  Just checking.  So… I guess this means I don’t have to live in a swirl of mental confusion?

“Exactly. God desires that you have a focused life…clarity and trust.”

Yeah… pretty sure I desire that too.

“Look to Christ. Get rid of earthly wisdom. Put your faith in Him…not only to receive answers, but because He is the answer.  “

How do I know if I’m hearing the right stuff?  How do I know I’m not making it up to please my own desires?

“1. The Holy Spirit won’t lead you toward sin of any kind. God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.

2. …the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”

Hmm… ok.  Thanks, James.

“Keep reading. There’s a lot more you need to understand about watching your tongue and caring for widows and orphans.  Not to mention the really important bit about humility.”

I love the book of James.  Good conversation this morning over the tattered pages.

poem 421

A charm invests a face
Imperfectly beheld—
The lady dare not lift her veil
For fear it be dispelled

But peers beyond her mesh
And wishes—and denies—
Lest interview annul a want
That image satisfies

-Emily Dickinson

Paint.

Hmmm…

‘I should like to paint this.’ said the Ghost. ‘I wouldn’t bother about that just at present if I were you.’ replied the Spirit. ‘Look here, isn’t one going to be allowed to go on painting?’ ‘Looking comes first.’ ‘But I’ve had my look. I’ve seen just what I want to do. God!–I wish I’d thought of bringing my things with me!’ The Spirit shook his head scattering light from his hair as he did so. ‘That sort of thing’s no good here,’ he said. ‘What do you mean?’ said the Ghost. ‘When you painted on earth–at least in your earlier days–it was because you caught glimpses of Heaven in the earthly landscape. The success of your painting was that it enabled others to see the glimpses too. But here you are having the thing itself. It is from here that the messages came. There is no good telling us about this country, for we see it already. In fact, we see it better than you do.’

‘Then there’s never going to be any point in painting here?’ ‘I don’t say that. When you’ve grown into a Person (it’s all right, we all had to do it) there’ll be some things which you’ll see better than anyone else. One of the things you’ll want to do will be to tell us about them. But not yet. At present your business is to see. Come and see. He is endless. Come and feed.’ There was a little pause. ‘That will be delightful,’ said the Ghost presently in a rather dull voice. ‘Come then’ said the Spirit offering it his arm. ‘How soon do you think I could begin painting?’ it asked. The Spirit broke into laughter. ‘Don’t you see you’ll never paint at all if that’s what you’re thinking about?’ he said. ‘What do you mean?’ asked the Ghost. ‘Why, if you are interested in the country only for the sake of painting it, you’ll never learn to see the country.’ ‘But that’s just how a real artist is interested in the country.’ ‘No. You’re forgetting,’ said the Spirit. ‘That was not how you began. Light itself was your first love: you loved paint only as a means of telling about light.’

‘Oh, that’s ages ago,’ said the Ghost. ‘One grows out of that. Of course, you haven’t seen my later works. One becomes more and more interested in paint for its own sake.’ ‘One does, indeed. I also have had to recover from that. It was all a snare. Ink and catgut and paint were necessary down there, but they are also dangerous stimulants. Every poet and musician and artist, but for Grace, is drawn away from love of the thing he tells, to love of the telling till, down in Deep Hell, they cannot be interested in God at all but only in what they say about Him. For it doesn’t stop at being interested in paint, you know. They sink lower–become interested in their own personalities and then in nothing but their own reputations.’ ‘I don’t think I’m much troubled in that way,’ said the Ghost stiffly. ‘That’s excellent,’ said the Spirit. ‘Not many of us had quite got over it when we first arrived. But if there is any of that inflammation left it will be cured when you come to the fountain.’ ‘What fountain’s that?’ ‘It is up there in the mountains,’ said the Spirit. ‘Very cold and clear, between two green hills. A little like Lethe. When you have drunk of it you forget forever all proprietorship in your own works. You enjoy them just as if they were someone else’s: without pride and without modesty.’

The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis

So… I went to Borders…

…ostensibly to work on an article, but instead I ended up wandering around the back of the store reading book titles and occasionally leafing through a few pages. I really like reading business books. I’m a nerd, I know… and I haven’t implemented a quarter of what I’ve read… but it’s a hobby. Today, however, I was again reminded that the world of commerce is kind of confusing, overwhelming…and amusing. :) So many contradictory messages. And so many books essentially saying the same thing with a different cover. Here are just a few of the titles I discovered while browsing:

• Nice Guys Get the Corner Office
• Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office (huh?)
• The Think Big Manifesto (which actually looked like a cool book… and had nothing to do with Wal-Mart)
• The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential…in Business and in Life
• Guerrilla Marketing (the series)
• Soft Sell
• The Logic of Life: Rational Economics of an Irrational World
• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
• The 4-Hour Workweek  (I’m ok with this…)
• Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling
• Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
• Face Time: The Power of Person to Person Marketing
• Fire Your Boss
• 45 Things You Do that Drive Your Boss Crazy–And How to Avoid Them  (I already know these things)
• How to Better Hate Your Job
• Thank God It’s Monday!: How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love  (Yay… Monday!)

I didn’t buy any of them.  I have a stack of 23 books in my room to read over the summer.  I think I’ll start with a novel. :)

what love is…

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
1 John 3:11-24