In the season of Lent, this year at my church, we've been thinking on the theme of...
Walking in the Dark; Never Afraid, Never Alone.
...and we've had some nice imagery, stories, songs and sermons shared in the process. Today, a group of friends sang Leonard Cohen's, "Come Healing." It's a beautiful song. Enjoy.
29 comments:
Nicely done.
Thanks.
Thank you guys for your discussion on voter ID on a comment page. If Dan will allow it, I'll ask if you want to discuss a topic on this page. I just saw a YouTube video where a young woman says she has "partnered" with an organization which has as its purpose to steer diners to restaurants owned by females. I wonder if you think that sort of activism-by-wallet (there's probably a better term for it, but that's the best I can do) is laudable or if it takes us down a bad path as a society?
Years ago I would see business-owned vehicles on the road with the Christian fish emblem stuck on the vehicle. I heard that the idea was that potential customers would think, "I want to give my business to a Christian-owned company, so I'll try this one." That emblem has pretty much gone extinct, in my region anyway.
~ Hiram
I support people organizing to support any businesses they want.
I, personally, would prefer to see it used to support those who have been oppressed, unjustly maligned or otherwise harmed by policy or groups as opposed to merely organizing to support those who are like you, but I support it all.
If an effort were organized to support local Muslim or Latino businesses because of all the demonization occurring by Trump and the neo-Nazis, I'd say great.
If a group of local artists organized a Thanksgiving/Christmas time effort to encourage people to support local artists, cool.
If churches want to encourage their members to eat at Chick-Fil-A or other Christian-owned businesses, I'm fine with it.
If a bunch of wealthy people who have wonderful lives want to organize and encourage people to buy more from them so that their lives can be even nicer, go for it.
I just think the less troubled your situation is and the more privileged you are, the less tasteful and well-received such an effort will be, but if you want to try such a thing, hey, it's a free world and I support freedom.
I’m probably wired and out of step, but I support people having the freedom to choose who they do business with based on whatever criteria they choose to use. Of course, I’m my previous life in the construction world, I saw too many people who thought that simply having a woman/minority owned business would make them rich because of all the set asides. Most of them were either simply fronts, or they sucked at what they were supposed to do and thought they could coast on preferences and set asides.
Craig reminds me that a deceased Caucasian relative of mine told us years ago that he was one of a 2-person small business in the state of Washington for awhile. The deal was that he would be considered 49% of the ownership, and a person of color was the 51% owner. And (as he told the story, anyway) he did all the actual labor at the work sites, with the other fellow getting paid purely for the skin color he was born with.
(I never know how much to allow for people's exaggeration, so read the Southern-plantation-in-reverse story above for whatever you think it is worth.)
~ Hiram
I know some folks who’ve manipulated the system and also do good quality work, also know some who don’t do good work but milk the preference/set aside system for all they can.
My wife works for a guy who gets city contracts because as a "Mexican-American", he gets special consideration. Doesn’t matter thst he can't speak a lick of Spanish, but this "affirmative action" crap sandwich created by those who are demonizing white people (the leftists) kinda forces him to play the game or struggle mightily if he doesn't.
As to Hiram's question, it seems we're all pretty much aligned, with the obvious correction to Dan's hateful lie about Trump demonizing all muslims and Latinos, which honest people know he's never done.
People are free to patronize whichever biz they like. People are free to encourage the patronizing of any biz as well. I would just insist that they be open about motivations so as not to deceive people into patronizing businesses they might otherwise wish to avoid.
Art, I think that the whole idea of giving preference based on race or gender with no regard to qualifications is a problem. But if I was good at what I did, I have to admit that I’d give some thought to operating under my wife’s name to take advantage of the system.
My worst experience was with a mold remediation company that was absolutely incompetent yet was able to stay in business based on set asides.
I know for many people, these sort of minority owned business statuses have been a great and empowering thing. There will always be abusers of any system, but we ought not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
I do have to wonder why conservatives feel so compelled to nitpick the instances where such programs have been abused (and I'm fine with taking out the abusers of systems), instead of celebrating the progress such programs have made for traditionally oppressed groups like women and minorities.
The only time I could accept gender or racial preference, were it to even occur to me to do so were I in position to make the decision, would be if all other considerations were equal...price, quality of work, ability to do the job, etc. But even then, I could just flip a coin, pull a name out of a hat or some other random chance determination. Though at that point, I don't believe a personal preference according to race or gender is necessarily problematic. But gov't mandates? No way.
I guess I’ve missed where anyone in this thread has advocated “throwing the baby out..,”. I certainly don’t think pointing out real life examples of being forced to use more expensive and incompetent subcontractors by municipal fiat is “nitpicking”.
It does seem germane to note that the incompetent and manipulators do a disservice to others trying to do good work and compete on a level playing field.
Not sure why choosing what business to patronize should involve any considerations beyond the quality of work, skill, customer service, and competence, but that’s just 35 years in the construction industry talking.
FYI, these set aside programs literally made the affordable houses I built for over 10 years more expensive. I guess it’s ok to pass the cost of these programs on to those least able to afford it.
Nothing empowers better than quality work at competitive prices. No need for gov't to dictate based on race and gender. And as gov't entities contract with the people's money, they need to consider how the people feel about the manner in which they spend it.
Thanks.
And to be slightly more on topic, care to say what genres/eras of music you gravitate toward? I listen mostly to pop, folk and country produced late 1950s to early 1970s. I'll dabble in classical once in a blue moon, and even more rarely in jazz, of which 99% of the material leaves me cold. Never cared for disco or rap, with a tiny number of exceptions by the Bee Gees, Donna Summer and Salt 'n Pepa.
I can't sing a note. I could probably write a complete song if I kept my nose to the grind, but to the extent that it turned out decent it would also sound too much like some famous song already out there, I suspect.
If I get decent enough at piano, I'd like to offer a backing track to a singer to add vocals to, which I would do the final mastering for, just as a fun project. This could be done entirely remotely, through file sharing on the Net, I would imagine. Does anybody know of a "amateur singer seeking amateur backing track" sort of webpage?
~ Hiram
Hiram,
I've fronted several bands and projects such as what you suggest are especially attractive to me these days, given my work and family schedule. I have the means by which you could check me out, though what's available on social media ain't my best stuff. My email is on my profile page if you'd like to hash out non-committal details. I like jammin with most anyone and no longer get to do it nearly as often as I'd like.
I tend to like acoustic music, of all eras and most genres. Acoustic blues (Blind Willie Johnson, Robert Johnson, etc), ragtime, old folk (Dylan, Peter, Paul, Mary, Simon/Garfunkel, etc), and especially new folk music (Gillian Welch, Old Crow Medicine Show, Avett Brothers), but still like some old time rock (Beatles, Doobie Brothers, Grand Funk, etc). Love me some harmonies. You can see the sort of music we listen to/play at my church scattered throughout my youtube account...
https://www.youtube.com/user/paynehollow/videos
Marshall, I'd like to hear you playing, even if it ain't your best stuff, if you'd be interested in sharing.
Art, riffling through my songbooks I see I have hundreds of songs, including for example these titles:
Me and Bobby McGee
Nights in White Satin
Dark as a Dungeon
Guess Things Happen that Way
Tennessee Waltz
Trains and Boats and Planes
To Love Somebody
I'll Fly Away
Boots of Spanish Leather
Cycles
It's Not Unusual
Under the Boardwalk
All I Have to Do Is Dream
In the Year 2525
Dear Yoko
Summer Wine
Dead Skunk
Take Me Home, Country Roads
So do any of those make you want to heave your guts out in disgust? :-)
My piano is an inexpensive digital piano that was an impulse purchase at a retail store. I have some under-$100 software that can record what I am playing by connecting piano to computer, though I have just goofed around a little bit with the software so far.
Music purists would point out that the sounds I can get from my piano are not as authentic as what Dan and his people are getting from their flesh & blood instruments at the link he provides above on this page. It can emulate things like guitar and percussion pretty well, I'd say, but doesn't do all that well at brass and woodwind sounds.
~ Hiram
Well, here goes. I was standing in for the lead singer of this band my brother-in-law is in (he's the guy with the hat with whom I sing "Ain't No Midnight Train"--had I known this was being filmed, I would have preferred not to block him). It was the Y2K New Year's Eve, and the lead singer, who at the time was the deputy chief of police for Dundee (or perhaps East Dundee next door), IL. Because of all the fears about potential trouble with computers and such, the whole department was on duty, until after midnight...just in case. So I was asked to substitute and was feeling the nerves a bit more than usual when it started. The sound ain't the best considering it's just coming through a basic camera and as you'll see, the picture ain't all that great either. A lot of Joe Cocker stuff at the beginning. Eventually, a chick, who's name I don't recall, gets up and does a few songs as well. The lead singer does show up, but I'm not sure if he's on the video, or if anyone would care to sit through the whole thing to find out. So with all that background and disclaimer...
https://youtu.be/PBSymmvMQM4
Hiram,
That's quite an eclectic list of songs. Not familiar with all the titles, but I know you got some really, really old country on there, a Tom Jones (love that dude), BeeGees and In The Year 2525, which coincidentally was going through my head just the other day. Love the Moody Blues (saw them twice). Was never a fan of post-Beatles Lennon, and Louden W's Dead Skunk was fun only the first time I heard it. Other than that, I can handle most music except hip-hop (not really music) and really esoteric jazz. There's one form of jazz I particularly enjoy and if you look up Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive album on YouTube, you'll get a taste.
Excellent, Marshall! "Some Kind of Wonderful" is one of my faves! Nice growl. Great band, too.
Really polished sound there, Art! I would classify that act as blue-eyed soul. If you had any stage fright it didn't show.
I calculate that I am coming up on my first thousand hours on keyboard in my three years of owning of one. Jerry Lee Lewis could probably have played in front of a crowd by that stage, but I am several notches below the musicianship I'm hearing in your band and in Dan's. That said, I made a note on the December page of my 2018 calendar to look for your email if I have gotten to the point where I wouldn't be embarrassed to send a sound file to you. So if in fact I don't follow through on this, be assured that it's because of my own limitations, not yours.
~ Hiram
Thank you both for the kind words. There are only a few of the recordings of my singing that I can stand to hear. I'm sure it's true of many singers that one's own "mistakes" stand out most strongly to one's self. But some are atrocious in my opinion. A former band mate, who seems to listen only to stuff he's on, has sent me several CDs of practices and performances and I have to wade through a lot of bad to get to what I think are gems. It's a real kick when one comes off well.
A cautionary backstory: As a teen in the early 70's, most parties included musically inclined people. I generally added my voice to harmonies in the upper registers. You wouldn't know it by that video, but I was easily able to sing along with the likes of Freddie Mercury and scream along with Edgar Winter. People began to encourage me to get into a band. Late 70's early 80's, parties would still include such sing-alongs. After a wedding, with some of those high school friends in from out of town, a bunch of us were doing it again, along with much beer, weed and cocaine. By about 5AM, there was only me and one other guy still going at it. When I awoke about ten hours later, my throat was raw. It never recovered as I had damaged my vocal chords and like Steve Perry, I needed to have nodules removed from them. (If you thought I sounded Cocker-like on that video...) I had no falsetto at all. It came out a whisper. Still, I got into my first band and eventually had those nodules addressed, but my full range never came back. Since then my butt's been constantly sore from my own kicking of it for my stupidity. And I'll hear a really good singer that makes me feel like never singing again because he's so good. But, no one's thrown a tomato at me, so I guess I'm not too bad.
In the meantime, I do indeed enjoy hearing Dan's offerings...from his kids to his church friends. Good stuff indeed. And yeah, Dan...I love me some fine harmonies, too. Check this out that I found looking up Hiram's list:
https://youtu.be/BEJBKoSoot8
Dig how low that dude goes at the very end!
Today's YouTube video shows you using a standard plectrum. Have you ever messed with those metal clip-ons that allow multiple fingers to pluck the guitar strings? And do you ever use a capo? Clip-on microphone?
~ Hiram
I don't know about Dan, but I've never been able to get used to using finger and thumb picks. Plus, barring unexpected mishaps with sharp blades, one never loses one's fingers as one can with picks. But there is, of course, different sounds among the choices of bare fingers, plastic and metal picks, if that matters to you personally.
Capo use is a helpful way to change keys, both for easier singing as well as easier chords to play. Sometimes, however, the chords don't sound right even though the key is right and one must remove the capo and learn the song with the proper chords used by the composer. The Beatles used a lot of tricky chords, but learning them just improves your ability.
I've used a clip-on mic that I didn't think was of good quality. It was difficult to get a good volume without feedback. I also once used on that can be best described as a wad of gum you'd stick right to the body of the guitar. I thought that had a bit of a muffled tone to it, but in a pinch...My goal is to find a good acoustic guitar with electronics for amplification. I once test-drove someone's Washburn that I thought was one of the best playing acoustics I've ever tried out. It belonged to a supervisor at work...a guy I neither liked or trusted was being honest about the value of the guitar, plus I was trying to haggle him down to an easier price, not wanting to enrich him if I could help it. Wish I would've paid the extra hundred over what I offered.
Yeah, I haven't been able to get used to finger and thumb picks. I do a combination of using a normal pick/plectrum and just using my fingers.
And yes, use the heck out of capos. But just standard ones.
And I haven't relied upon any mics directly on my guitar in decades, but at church, I'll sometimes mic the guitar with an external mic. I used to be in a sorta rock band (playing Christian music) with electric guitars, electric bass, etc. We were very bad and I've become more of an acoustic music guy, anyway.
My favorite concerts are small and unplugged or just barely plugged...
Have I ever shown you my little vintage guitar?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfO4sVEIHOM
I can't play worth nothing, but that's sort of the style of music I like and about my playing ability, which ain't much...
Just playing with friends, as in here, is about my speed...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfO4sVEIHOM
~Dan
Appreciated, guys. Is that last link supposed to be different from the one above it?
~ Hiram
Ha.
It was supposed to be this one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUb5c-o7h70
Ah yes, I remember watching that last one years back. Y'all would sound good on "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma." The melisma on the word "blue" always gives me goosebumps.
~ Hiram
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