Christmas is my favorite time of year, especially now that I have small children. Lillian shares my excitement of getting a Christmas tree and decorating it, as well as putting up the lights outside. When she was a baby, I toyed with the idea of giving her the real scoop on Santa Clause. It never worked, my influence is too small, I guess. That aside, we really get into Christmas in the Schroeder household. We pull out the Christmas records and cd's (we even got Lilly a Taylor Swift Christmas cd for her birthday) and listen to them whenever possible. Christmas music is a lot like Christmas memories, every year I remember the good old ones, add new ones, try to forget the bad ones (even though you can't, insert the most annoying Christmas song you can think of) and let the unmemorable ones fade into oblivion.
My favorite Christmas music tends to lean towards the melancholy. I remember all those minor chord Advent songs sitting in church on Wednesday nights. They always sounded so sad and with every new candlelit on the Advent wreath seemed like another invitation to joy, but not so soon. There would be a few more weeks of reminders of how dark the world is before that big white candle is lit. I used to love looking through the hymnal, counting down the songs until the Christmas ones began. Than we would get to Joy to the World or Oh Come All Ye Faithful.
Many of the the great secular Christmas songs have a hint of this melancholy. Everybody always looks at "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" as this nice sweet little song about having a nice Christmas, but at the heart of it is an intense sadness. "Through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow, until then we'll have to muddle through somehow...next YEAR all our troubles will be miles away."
Thirty six years on, I think I finally understand this sadness that comes with Christmas. We're all in search of a perfection that we never achieve. We buy new cars that lose their value as soon as we drive it off the lot. We strive to keep the house clean and it's getting dirty the second we're done. We work to buy our children toys they are bored with the same day they get it. As the old John Prine song goes, "all the snow has turned to water, Christmas days have come & gone, broken toys and faded colors are all that's left to linger on".
We know all the right answers when it comes to Christmas, and we teach them to our children, only to forget them ourselves minutes after we teach them. We search for perfection with Christmas; we try to make memories to last a lifetime, only to be left with that same empty feeling that our idea of perfection can't be reached.
Which brings us to why we need Christmas in the first place. Jesus came to save us from our frailties, our guilt, our greed, our anger, our shame, our selfishness, you can feel free to pick yours. Christmas came as a light in a dark place, our perfection in an imperfect world. It brings with it a tension between our sadness our sin has created and the joy of knowing the one who came to save us from our sin. My hope for you this Christmas is that you remember all that needs to be remembered, forget all that needs to be forgotten, and most of all, that joy wins.
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming-Sufjan Stevens
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas-Bob Dylan
Of the Father's Love Begotten-Concordia College Fort Wayne
Good Christian, Men Rejoice-Kings Choir Cambridge
Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates-Sufjan Stevens
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Thursday, October 15, 2015
A couple of months ago on a Friday evening, I took Lillian on a "hike" to one of our favorite spots, "Rosy Mound". It goes through the woods up and over hills until you finally get to the shore of Lake Michigan. The payoff for Lillian is, at the end, she gets to swim. The payoff for me is walking hand in hand with my four year old daughter through one of the most beautiful places in our little town. After nine years of living in Grand Haven, I still haven't lost the childlike excitement of seeing the water. It even outweighs my adult like hatred of sand in my shoes. When we got to the water, we had the beach completely to ourselves, it was an evening I'll never forget, and it'll remind me of many nights like it we've had since then in 10 years or so.
The next night, after work, the whole family went for a walk in our neighborhood. It was another wonderful evening. We were almost home and Christie was making Lillian laugh really loud. We heard someone yelling from their driveway. I thought maybe the gentleman was working on his car and was upset that we were being too loud. It turns out, he had fallen and was asking for help. We helped him into his house and as we were helping him, he kept looking back at the stroller that Emmett was in and Lillian standing right next to it. We assured him that they were okay. His wife came out and talked about calling an ambulance and then called her son. She informed us that their granddaughter had died recently and he said maybe that is why he fell. We got him in the house and told him we'd pray for him. Christie wondered if maybe their granddaughter was the four year old who tragically died recently. It turns out it was. My heart sank. She was younger than Lillian.
I visited the gentleman the next day, he was feeling better, but started talking about his granddaughter. I told him I don't want to imagine what that might feel like.
When my son was a few months old during church, the thought popped into my head that someday I'd have to give him up. I'm not sure if that meant one day he'd leave our home to live a life of his own or something worse, but it was a good reminder that these children of mine are a gift from God entrusted to us for a short time. Those two suck the life out of me sometimes, especially the boy at the moment, he is overly fussy (unless he's going for a walk or sitting in the grass), he doesn't want to eat anything that isn't a cracker or a piece of fruit, and he is in to anything and everything that he's not supposed to. This post is three months in the making & as I speak, he's up earlier from his nap than expected. They suck the life out of me but without them life would seem like it weren't worth living. There a lot like the leaves on the trees in the yard at this time of the year, so beautiful, yet so much work. The boys awake & the leaves need raking. Happy Autumn, friends...
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
Autumn Leaves-Nat King Cole
Everytime we Say Goodbye-John Coltrane
Autumn Serenade-Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane
Autumn-Joanna Newsom
Daddy's Little Pumpkin-John Prine
Take a drive in the country and listen to these songs and see if they don't put a smile on your face.
The next night, after work, the whole family went for a walk in our neighborhood. It was another wonderful evening. We were almost home and Christie was making Lillian laugh really loud. We heard someone yelling from their driveway. I thought maybe the gentleman was working on his car and was upset that we were being too loud. It turns out, he had fallen and was asking for help. We helped him into his house and as we were helping him, he kept looking back at the stroller that Emmett was in and Lillian standing right next to it. We assured him that they were okay. His wife came out and talked about calling an ambulance and then called her son. She informed us that their granddaughter had died recently and he said maybe that is why he fell. We got him in the house and told him we'd pray for him. Christie wondered if maybe their granddaughter was the four year old who tragically died recently. It turns out it was. My heart sank. She was younger than Lillian.
I visited the gentleman the next day, he was feeling better, but started talking about his granddaughter. I told him I don't want to imagine what that might feel like.
When my son was a few months old during church, the thought popped into my head that someday I'd have to give him up. I'm not sure if that meant one day he'd leave our home to live a life of his own or something worse, but it was a good reminder that these children of mine are a gift from God entrusted to us for a short time. Those two suck the life out of me sometimes, especially the boy at the moment, he is overly fussy (unless he's going for a walk or sitting in the grass), he doesn't want to eat anything that isn't a cracker or a piece of fruit, and he is in to anything and everything that he's not supposed to. This post is three months in the making & as I speak, he's up earlier from his nap than expected. They suck the life out of me but without them life would seem like it weren't worth living. There a lot like the leaves on the trees in the yard at this time of the year, so beautiful, yet so much work. The boys awake & the leaves need raking. Happy Autumn, friends...
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
Autumn Leaves-Nat King Cole
Everytime we Say Goodbye-John Coltrane
Autumn Serenade-Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane
Autumn-Joanna Newsom
Daddy's Little Pumpkin-John Prine
Take a drive in the country and listen to these songs and see if they don't put a smile on your face.
Monday, December 22, 2014
My old man got me hooked on the Marty Stuart Show on Saturday nights on RFD TV. There's something about Saturday nights that make me want to be at home, doing what I always do on Saturday nights. Usually that involves listening to records, hanging out with the kids, then having a couple glasses of wine after we put the kids to bed. My dad is usually doing the same thing, so my mother tells me.
Watching the end credits last week, I noticed the song playing over the credits as sounding familiar, it sounded alot like Bob Dylan's "Things Have Chaged" from the movie Wonder Boys. It won an academy award, & is generally viewed as one of his greatest songs of the past 20 years. I googled Things Have Changed and Marty Stuart, and a song popped up called "Observations of a Crow", off his 1999 album The Pilgrim.
http://youtu.be/HcNxM1p9khI
After doing some more research, it came to my surprise (only because I thought I knew just about everyone who's ever played with Dylan) that Stuart sat in on a Bob Dylan show in September, 1999 in Nashville. The late, great writer Paul Williams writes this about the performance:
From Paul Williams: "I notice there's an extra person on stage playing mandolin. I take a good look through my binoculars: Marty Stuart. I've always wanted to see Bob with a real bluegrass band and throwing Marty into the mix transformed Bob's band into just that. Bob was talking to Marty in between songs all night long, as much as I've ever seen him verbally communicate with anyone on stage.
" ‘Tangled Up In Blue' finished off the acoustic set and as many times as I've heard this song, I don't know if I've ever heard it quite so beautifully rendered. Bob was genuinely inspired by Marty's presence and he pulled out his harp and played it better than I've heard him play it in a long, long time. He and Marty were standing right next to each other, trading off and it was quite a moment. Marty's mandolin added so much to the sound of the band, making them sound even tighter and more rhythmic than usual.
"This was the first time I'd seen anyone sit in the while night and, as great as those other folks were, this was definitely the finest overall contribution I've ever seen anyone make in a walk-on role. It was night and day seeing Bob with Paul Simon and then with Marty Stuart. It was obvious whose company Bob preferred, which is not to put down Simon, who the large crowd seemed to enjoy, as it is to say how much he seemed to immensely enjoy Marty's presence on stage. I know I did. I would love to see him join the band or at least make the trip down to Memphis on Saturday. All in all, I'd have to say that this was quite possibly the best Dylan concert I've ever seen and I've seen some great ones. Last night was pure magic."
Bob Dylan is certainly no stranger to country music, he's been playing Hank Williams and other more obscure country songs since he's been putting music to tape. His friendship with Johnny Cash has lasted since the early '60s, and he's played with Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatts, and Charlie Daniels. His 1969 album "Nashville Skyline" started what was known as "Country Rock". In 1999, though, Dylan's concerts began to feature a nightly bluegrass cover to open the show, as well as many covers of Johnny Cash songs, & he began sporting country western suits every night. Some of his moves while playing guitar were reminiscent of ones you might see on The Marty Stuart every Saturday night. Who knew RFD TV was so influential?
http://youtu.be/6PPxVYuO8Ic
http://youtu.be/L9EKqQWPjyo
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
Blue Moon of Kentucky-The Stanley Brothers
Not Fade Away-Buddy Holly
Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates-Sufjan Stevens
A Good Year for the Roses-George Jones
If We Make it Through December-Merle Haggard
Happy Monday, friends...
Watching the end credits last week, I noticed the song playing over the credits as sounding familiar, it sounded alot like Bob Dylan's "Things Have Chaged" from the movie Wonder Boys. It won an academy award, & is generally viewed as one of his greatest songs of the past 20 years. I googled Things Have Changed and Marty Stuart, and a song popped up called "Observations of a Crow", off his 1999 album The Pilgrim.
http://youtu.be/HcNxM1p9khI
After doing some more research, it came to my surprise (only because I thought I knew just about everyone who's ever played with Dylan) that Stuart sat in on a Bob Dylan show in September, 1999 in Nashville. The late, great writer Paul Williams writes this about the performance:
From Paul Williams: "I notice there's an extra person on stage playing mandolin. I take a good look through my binoculars: Marty Stuart. I've always wanted to see Bob with a real bluegrass band and throwing Marty into the mix transformed Bob's band into just that. Bob was talking to Marty in between songs all night long, as much as I've ever seen him verbally communicate with anyone on stage.
" ‘Tangled Up In Blue' finished off the acoustic set and as many times as I've heard this song, I don't know if I've ever heard it quite so beautifully rendered. Bob was genuinely inspired by Marty's presence and he pulled out his harp and played it better than I've heard him play it in a long, long time. He and Marty were standing right next to each other, trading off and it was quite a moment. Marty's mandolin added so much to the sound of the band, making them sound even tighter and more rhythmic than usual.
"This was the first time I'd seen anyone sit in the while night and, as great as those other folks were, this was definitely the finest overall contribution I've ever seen anyone make in a walk-on role. It was night and day seeing Bob with Paul Simon and then with Marty Stuart. It was obvious whose company Bob preferred, which is not to put down Simon, who the large crowd seemed to enjoy, as it is to say how much he seemed to immensely enjoy Marty's presence on stage. I know I did. I would love to see him join the band or at least make the trip down to Memphis on Saturday. All in all, I'd have to say that this was quite possibly the best Dylan concert I've ever seen and I've seen some great ones. Last night was pure magic."
Bob Dylan is certainly no stranger to country music, he's been playing Hank Williams and other more obscure country songs since he's been putting music to tape. His friendship with Johnny Cash has lasted since the early '60s, and he's played with Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatts, and Charlie Daniels. His 1969 album "Nashville Skyline" started what was known as "Country Rock". In 1999, though, Dylan's concerts began to feature a nightly bluegrass cover to open the show, as well as many covers of Johnny Cash songs, & he began sporting country western suits every night. Some of his moves while playing guitar were reminiscent of ones you might see on The Marty Stuart every Saturday night. Who knew RFD TV was so influential?
http://youtu.be/6PPxVYuO8Ic
http://youtu.be/L9EKqQWPjyo
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
Blue Moon of Kentucky-The Stanley Brothers
Not Fade Away-Buddy Holly
Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates-Sufjan Stevens
A Good Year for the Roses-George Jones
If We Make it Through December-Merle Haggard
Happy Monday, friends...
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Any day now I'll be a father again. Before we had Lillian, I always pictured myself having a son. Now I have a hard time imagining myself being a father of a son. I wonder what it will be like if he's really into football or hunting or stuff I know little about. I'm not sure how well a growing young man will do around here being interested in folk music, jazz, poetry or politics. I really appreciate my ol' man's approach to our interests as kids. He was never overbearing, he didn't tell me I was doing something wrong, he let me figure things out on my own, but he put the time in to play with me & help me. He didn't yell from the stands, & he never questioned my coaches.
I'll never forget one time after a basketball game, he told me I was the most talented player on the team. I always thought that strange, when I was in 8th grade & especially now, because I clearly wasn't the most talented player on the team. I wasn't sure if he was trying to boost my self esteem, or what he was doing, but it was clearly uncharacteristic of him to do any kind of ranking of abilities. I appreciated the gesture, though.
Maybe he'll be athletic and get good grades like his mother. I hope I can teach him to stand up for what is right. I hope he has a thirst for learning. My ol' man never gave me any speeches about how a real man acts, I'm not sure if that was intentional or not. I think I got the message from his actions, though, that a true measure of a man isn't how much money he makes or how far he can hit a golf ball, but rather how much he shows others the love of Jesus.
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
Moody's Mood for Love-King Pleasure
Series of Dreams-Bob Dylan
Vito's Ordination Song-Sufjan Stevens
Someday Sparrow-Laura Cantrell
Different Days-Jason Isbell
Happy Sunday, friends.
andrew
Sunday, December 08, 2013
You & me at the edge of the world, the year in music 2013
I find music criticism tiresome and fascinating at the same time. Very few album or concert reviews hold my interest for very long, most are incredibly lazy and rely on preconceived notions on the artist they are reviewing, or even worse, other reviews they've already read. When Bob Dylan's "Another Self Portrait" came out this year, every review mentioned how the album this collection's outtakes come from were panned by the press and include Greil Marcus' review of "Self Portrait" where he begins with "what is this sh*t?". Many failed to even talk about the songs included on the album.
I used to have high dreams of being a rock critic, but soon realized I didn't have the avenues to crack into this field, and it also seemed like a hard way to make a living. As music is my favorite subject, I still love reading about it almost as much as I love listening to it, even though very few critics hold my interest for very long. My ol' pal Kevin Davis ( http://kevinpauldavis.blogspot.com/) is one of the few good ones.
As I don't have as much time to dedicate to my hobby as I used to, I prefer to look at the music I listen to as benchmarks of my life. If you can't relate the music you listen to to your own experience, you might as well listen to w-lite or the light rock station of your choice. When I think of "Another Self Portrait" I think of the chills I got listening to the new version of "Sign on the Window", a song I've always loved, but now it has a beautiful piano intro to the tune of "Danny Boy" and the rest of the song has a string arrangement that gave me chills listening to it for the first time while mowing the lawn. It's hard to get chills mowing the lawn. There are lots of gems on this collection, and it's true that the albums that these outtakes come from are far inferior to this collection, it makes me wonder how much different the arc of his career would've been if these songs had been released, but then again, I wouldn't be appreciating them for what they are now, little treasures found in an attic to be enjoyed later. What I'll remember most about this album comes from my daughter. One day, we're sitting on the couch & my daughter starts singing, "Annie's going to sing her song called take me back again!". Now, I know what the three of you who read this blog are thinking, that I sit around & teach my daughter Bob Dylan songs all day. That's really not the case, at least not this time. I was extremely proud. My pride however has led to me having to listen to that song ad nauseum, everytime we get in the car she always wants to hear the "Annie song".
Speaking of Bob Dylan, I saw him in concert once again in 2013 at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo. One of the most exciting things about seeing Dylan in concert is the ever changing setlists, you never know what he's going to play on a given night. That's gone now, he plays the same set every night. The trade-off is that he puts in a more focused, consistent performance. On this night, he performed one of the best versions of Beyond Here Lies Nothing that I've heard, he had the crowd whipped up into a frenzy that I've never witnessed at a Dylan concert. I also got to hear songs from "Tempest" for the first time, including Pay in Blood, where he changes the lyric to say "my conscience is clear, how about you?", and a jawdropping performance of "What Good Am I?".
My favorite musical moment of 2013 happened at the Ladies' Literary Club in Grand Rapids (it's not really a ladies' literary club) where we saw Kishi Bashi. Some performers have something about them that you can't explain, their music has a way of getting under your skin. I don't understand his lyrics in the least bit (many of them are in Japanese). His music is pure joy. I was there with my best concert going pal, and we sat towards the back (there's not a bad seat in the house and it was a sold out show). On the steps leading up to the theater, a lady rocked her newborn child so that they could listen to the show for free. It made me wish I lived in the neighborhood, so I could walk with Lilly down to these steps to listen to whatever show was going on. It's a good reminder that music should hang in the air for anyone to enjoy, whether they have a ticket or not. It also made me wonder what happens if you were to unexpectedly drop the average person who isn't an avid music searcher like my friend & myself into the ladies literary club when Kishi Bashi is in the midst of one of these crazy performances what they would think of it. So this is an open invitation to the three or four readers of this blog, the next time Kishi Bashi comes to Grand Rapids, I'd love to buy anyone who wants to go a ticket.
This is totally unrelated to music, but that song reminds me of when we went to Traverse City & I took Lillian to Old Mission Peninsula & told her we were going to the edge of the world.
I believe having my daughter leaves me with not as much time for my favorite hobby of seeing live music and listening to new music, but whenever I do see a concert my mind usually wanders towards what she's doing and what she would think if she were at the concert with me and thinking of her usually makes me enjoy the concert even more. Last weekend, we attended a concert at church of a choir from South Africa called the Key of Hope. Lillian loved it & wants to listen to it every time she gets in the car now. I love that she loves it.
iYo Yo Yo, From Jamaica, South Africa, With Love from Stephen McGee Films on Vimeo.
Here's hoping you had a great music year, too.
andrew
I used to have high dreams of being a rock critic, but soon realized I didn't have the avenues to crack into this field, and it also seemed like a hard way to make a living. As music is my favorite subject, I still love reading about it almost as much as I love listening to it, even though very few critics hold my interest for very long. My ol' pal Kevin Davis ( http://kevinpauldavis.blogspot.com/) is one of the few good ones.
As I don't have as much time to dedicate to my hobby as I used to, I prefer to look at the music I listen to as benchmarks of my life. If you can't relate the music you listen to to your own experience, you might as well listen to w-lite or the light rock station of your choice. When I think of "Another Self Portrait" I think of the chills I got listening to the new version of "Sign on the Window", a song I've always loved, but now it has a beautiful piano intro to the tune of "Danny Boy" and the rest of the song has a string arrangement that gave me chills listening to it for the first time while mowing the lawn. It's hard to get chills mowing the lawn. There are lots of gems on this collection, and it's true that the albums that these outtakes come from are far inferior to this collection, it makes me wonder how much different the arc of his career would've been if these songs had been released, but then again, I wouldn't be appreciating them for what they are now, little treasures found in an attic to be enjoyed later. What I'll remember most about this album comes from my daughter. One day, we're sitting on the couch & my daughter starts singing, "Annie's going to sing her song called take me back again!". Now, I know what the three of you who read this blog are thinking, that I sit around & teach my daughter Bob Dylan songs all day. That's really not the case, at least not this time. I was extremely proud. My pride however has led to me having to listen to that song ad nauseum, everytime we get in the car she always wants to hear the "Annie song".
Speaking of Bob Dylan, I saw him in concert once again in 2013 at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo. One of the most exciting things about seeing Dylan in concert is the ever changing setlists, you never know what he's going to play on a given night. That's gone now, he plays the same set every night. The trade-off is that he puts in a more focused, consistent performance. On this night, he performed one of the best versions of Beyond Here Lies Nothing that I've heard, he had the crowd whipped up into a frenzy that I've never witnessed at a Dylan concert. I also got to hear songs from "Tempest" for the first time, including Pay in Blood, where he changes the lyric to say "my conscience is clear, how about you?", and a jawdropping performance of "What Good Am I?".
My favorite musical moment of 2013 happened at the Ladies' Literary Club in Grand Rapids (it's not really a ladies' literary club) where we saw Kishi Bashi. Some performers have something about them that you can't explain, their music has a way of getting under your skin. I don't understand his lyrics in the least bit (many of them are in Japanese). His music is pure joy. I was there with my best concert going pal, and we sat towards the back (there's not a bad seat in the house and it was a sold out show). On the steps leading up to the theater, a lady rocked her newborn child so that they could listen to the show for free. It made me wish I lived in the neighborhood, so I could walk with Lilly down to these steps to listen to whatever show was going on. It's a good reminder that music should hang in the air for anyone to enjoy, whether they have a ticket or not. It also made me wonder what happens if you were to unexpectedly drop the average person who isn't an avid music searcher like my friend & myself into the ladies literary club when Kishi Bashi is in the midst of one of these crazy performances what they would think of it. So this is an open invitation to the three or four readers of this blog, the next time Kishi Bashi comes to Grand Rapids, I'd love to buy anyone who wants to go a ticket.
This is totally unrelated to music, but that song reminds me of when we went to Traverse City & I took Lillian to Old Mission Peninsula & told her we were going to the edge of the world.
iYo Yo Yo, From Jamaica, South Africa, With Love from Stephen McGee Films on Vimeo.
Here's hoping you had a great music year, too.
andrew
Saturday, November 09, 2013
Storm Windows
I raked the lawn today & put all the patio furniture in the garage for the winter. While doing so, I couldn't help but regret how few times we ate dinner at the table on the deck or even sat there. I think this is my new favorite poem. When we are young, we take solace in the fact that certain things will last forever, when we are old we mourn the fact that nothing lasts forever.
The Chairs That No One Sits In
You see them on porches and on lawns
down by the lakeside,
usually arranged in pairs implying a couple
who might sit there and look out
at the water or the big shade trees.
The trouble is you never see anyone
sitting in these forlorn chairs
though at one time it must have seemed
a good place to stop and do nothing for a while.
Sometimes there is a little table
between the chairs where no one
is resting a glass or placing a book facedown.
It might be none of my business,
but it might be a good idea one day
for everyone who placed those vacant chairs
on a veranda or a dock to sit down in them
for the sake of remembering
whatever it was they thought deserved
to be viewed from two chairs
side by side with a table in between.
The clouds are high and massive that day.
The woman looks up from her book.
The man takes a sip of his drink.
Then there is nothing but the sound of their looking,
the lapping of lake water, and a call of one bird
then another, cries of joy or warning—
it passes the time to wonder which.
Five Favorite Songs of the Day
The Heart of a Saturday Night-Tom Waits
Storm Windows-John Prine
Josh Mcbride-The Head & the Heart
Hang Me Oh Hang Me-Deep Dark Woods
Dink's Song-Bob Dylan
Happy Saturday, friends...
andrew
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