Raising God's Rainbow Makers

In case any of you have interest in following my next book as it emerges, Raising God's Rainbow Makers, I have been and will be posting excerpts on Mahlou Musings and Clan of Mahlou, interspersed with other posts. I don't intend to post any more here on 100th Lamb since those other two blogs, content-wise, are more appropriate places for the excerpts. The book is essentially about parenting "special" children (handicapped and gifted) and reflects the earlier years of my children. I would love to have your feedback on this book as it develops.

Heralding Noelle

Angel (A): Lord, you could prevent this. Why do you allow it?

God (G): And what do you perceive as wrong here?

A: Well, you see, this baby will not be able to walk, not as a toddler and not as an adult. Epilepsy will interfere with her ability to drive as an adult. Hydrocephalus – all that extra fluid in the brain – is going to bring her the need to check periodically that her mechanical device for removing it is working, and when it doesn’t, there will be moments of panic and stress as her brain is compressed and she is in danger of dying. Not once, Lord, but I can see that there will be a dozen times that the mechanical device will have to be repaired. Human doctors cannot do with the human body what You can. Their mechanical devices are like fingers in a dam. Would it not be better if this baby were every bit as physically able as the people who surround her?

G: No. The gene pool is what it is. I will not intervene. Besides, she will be one of my rainbow makers, my special sprinklers.

A: Sprinklers, Lord?

G: Yes. Some people call these kinds of sprinklers broken. Sometimes they call them defective. They are, however, neither. They are simply differently configured, and because of that, they spurt water, they gush water, they spray water wider and farther. Noelle will splash water on all around her. She will water humanity.

A: I don’t understand.

G: Think about watering a field. You need to have rows of sprinklers. Each splashes water onto a given section of land. However, every once in a while, one of them is broken. More water rushes out, and more land is watered. That is a special sprinkler.

A: Ah, I see, but I still don’t understand how they water humanity.

G: Others are drawn to protect and help them, and then they feel good about showing mercy. My sprinklers bring out the best in others. That’s what I mean by watering humanity. Watch Noelle. You will see this.

A. Okay, but what does that have to do with rainbows?

G. Absolutely everything. Have you not seen how in the water splashing out from a long row of field sprinklers you can see rainbow after rainbow? That’s what this little sprinkler, one that others might consider broken, will do.

A: But what about her family, Lord? Her sister, Lizzie, and her parents?

G: Oh, I am happy that Noelle will be born into this family. It does not always happen that my special sprinklers are adequately tended, but these parents are fighters. They will protect my little sprinkler and make sure no additional harm comes to her beyond what she is born with. They will make sure that she can refract light through her water droplets to cause rainbows.

A: How, Lord? They don’t have the expertise.

G: They will find it. When they can’t find it, I will lead them to it.

A: But, Lord, there will be so much to find, and there will be so many crises. How will they handle all this?

G: I will be with them. In the good times and in the bad. In the triumphs and in the crises.

A: But they don’t believe in You!

G: Oh, I can handle that, too.

copyright 2010

The Half Assed Weekend Mix

Sorry, kids, but ye olde inbox did not get too full too quickly this week. Most of my normal traps turned up crap, quite frankly, and a lot of other stuff came just over the last day or so. Most be a tantric issue. For those of you who happen to submit to LET, get your stuff in early, folks, so we can give the people what they want when they want so they won't sit all the time. It's only fair, jah?

Instead, kids, because of those other lazy slow pokes, all you get is this half assed weekend mix.

J'accuse, slackers!

mp3: Weekend (American Relay from Corn & Oil)

mp3: Bodhi Sappy Weekend (Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew from Spirit If...)

mp3: Fronting the Weekend (Grillo from Jus Like Music & Apple Juice Break present: Oscillations Part 1)

mp3: It's the Weekend (Jason Lytle from yours truly, the commuter)

mp3: Wasted Weekend (TV on the Radio from Province 7" )

mp3: Wild Weekend (Zeros from Wild Zero Soundtrack)

mp3: Working for the Weekend (Loverboy from Get Lucky)

100 Shows of 2010 - #45: Bryan Elijah Smith & The Wild Hearts @ Fireflies, 7/24/10

I’ve got some pretty talented friends, it must be said. I don’t often cover them, for fear of my natural predisposition to automatically love what they’re doing slanting my writing. But every now and again I feel the need to make an exception, like when my friend Jeff told me he would be playing up here in my neck of the woods. So to Alexandria went I, and I tell you what, dearlings. Friends or no, Bryan Elijah Smith & The Wild Hearts (i.e. the aforementioned Jeff Miller slaying the banjo and also including the unfortunately absent fiddle prowess of Jay Austin) pretty much made my weekend.

MINI RECAP: Bryan Elijah Smith & The Wild Hearts = Better Then The Average Bear! Overall score: A.

Bryan and Jeff sat themselves on the stage and proceeded to play over two hours’ worth of a mix of wonderful original material and wonderful cover songs. Let’s face it, any song that starts off with a cover of “Folsom Prison Blues” is gonna be a good one. The two of them made one heck of a pair; Bryan with his acoustic guitar and harmonica, and Jeff with his banjo. It was a simple, classic sound they made, stripped down and pure. And Bryan’s voice, well, that’s something else altogether. You know me, I’m sometimes easily impressed, but this boy has one hell of a voice on him. It’s breathy and rich, a little reminiscent of Ryan Adams and those sensational Love Is Hell EPs, along with shades of the great Joseph Arthur, but with the honesty and purity of the mountains coursing through it. Very salt of the earth, you might say. The timbre of his voice backed by the genuine simplicity of the acoustic and Jeff’s banjo was nothing short of beautiful.

Among the set were excellent covers of Creedence’s “Fortunate Son”, more Cash (“Ring of Fire”), a jaw-dropping rendition of “Wonderwall” that rivaled the Oasis original, and “Blowin’ In the Wind”, to name but a few. And I’ll just go ahead and blaspheme, but this version of “Wonderwall” eclipsed the Ryan Adams cover, in my humble opinion. Each song, cover or no, was given special care, and was played with attention to detail. Towards the end of their set, the boys took requests from the persons in attendance, and my request for the Rolling Stones was kindly granted by covers of “Wild Horses” (gorgeous) and “Dead Flowers”, which sounded a wee bit like that amazing Townes Van Zandt cover.

When it was all over, and Bryan and Jeff packed up and headed off into the night, I was left feeling totally impressed, and rather proud. Hearing a voice like Bryan’s is rare indeed, and I can’t encourage you enough to go see the guys if you happen to get the chance. Fellow Virginians, the trio has dates all over scheduled for this summer, so make sure you don’t miss ‘em.

mp3: Other Side Of Town (Bryan Elijah Smith from Forever On My Mind)

7 Quick Takes Friday #35

See more 7 Quick Takes Contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

This week I have decided to concentrate on San Ignatio because that is where my greatest peace and pleasure come from. That is especially true this week, given that we had an employee leave, taking with him nearly $100,000 in our property. (That is next week's work to deal with that, I am afraid.) As a result, I am especially grateful for being able to return from hectic, troublesome days at work to a peaceful town where time has little meaning.

1. Chillin' 'n Grillin' is a new restaurant in town. It is actually a bit outside of town, on the outskirts, among the farms. It has acquired a good reputation, so Donnie and I decided to try it out on Friday. It was okay. The beer was unique, lots of local flavors. The food was so-so. The atmosphere as semi-quiet. I guess we are not the television-and-bar types.

2. On Saturday, we celebrated Shane's birthday with lunch at Jardines with Shane and Lemony and kids. They keep growing and growing (see their picture in the side bar). It was a pleasant afternoon at our favorite restaurant, with balmy weather (well, we almost always have balmy weather). We snatched up Doah in the morning from Santa Clara and brought him back to the lunch. Noelle could not come; she had a cold. (We still try to protect Nikolina from extra germs.) Nikolina is clearly left-handed. The physical therapist says she is too young to be so adamant about preferring her left hand, but that's Nikolina. She is nothing if not adamant. That nature likely contributed to her living through all those early surgeries and difficulties with missing and broken-into-pieces body parts.

3. Fr. Ed is back! Fr. Ed is back! Doah and I went to Mass after the Jardines lunch. Fr. Ed has been making a pilgrimage to Catholic sites around Europe for the past two months. This week Fr. Paul, from Nigeria, who had been filling in for Fr. Ed, returned home, and everyone wished him well. Doah and I attended Mass with Fr. Ed. It feels like a family member has returned. Fr. Ed is not just the priest at Old Mission; he is the town's priest -- we have only one church!

4. Sunday morning I set off in the car for the local grocery store to pick up something for breakfast. I could, of course, have walked. It is only six blocks away, but I drove. I could have walked faster, however. Two blocks from the store, a mother hen with nearly a dozen small chicks decided that the best food to be had at the moment was right in the middle of the road. Since chickens have the right of way in town, soon we had a small line of cars just waiting for the chickens to move on, but they did not pay any attention to us. As the first in line, I figured I had to do something. I got out of the car and chased Mama and her chicks to the side of the road. Was she angry! She dived at me, squawking and flapping her wings, reaming me out for separating her from her food supply for her children. Satisfied that she was safely out of the way, I watched as the piled-up cars detoured around my car and continued on down the road. Then I walked back and got into my car. As soon as my back was turned, Mama Hen and her chicks darted back into the road. As I sat down behind the wheel, I looked out the window and learned that Mama had won. She and the chicks were back in the middle of the road, exactly where they were before I had got out of the car!

5. I expected no one at our prayer group on Monday night, except perhaps Sr. Maria. The group, including my co-leader, seems overrun with troubles these days. One of our members has trouble getting away because she is the only person who can babysit her grandson and must do so into the late evening. Another has a granddaughter who has to be fed by tube. Yet another has a daughter who is in terrible pain but no hospital can figure out why. One has lost a job. My co-leader's wife has had spine surgery. My co-leader is concerned about being able to meet mortgage payments, given a sudden change for the worse in financial status. So, we had much to pray about. When the time to meet came, though, almost everyone was there! What a happy surprise for all of us! In the few days that have followed, some loads have started to lighten, praise the Lord!

6. I spent most of Sunday lolling at home on Sunday with our three cats: Murjan (Arabic for coral), Intrepid, and Simone. I have read that they protect their owners from heart attacks. (How kind of them!) Every evening except Monday and Tuesday, I did the same. They are much fun, and you can read more about them at Clan of Mahlou.

7. Cherries and berries, berries and cherries. I should have been a bear. Since that is not possible, the next best thing is to live in San Ignatio where cherries and berries are a natural product of our agricultural community and nearly always in season and fresh! Buy them at the market or from roadside stands, of which we have several, they are always juicy sweet, like life in San Ignatio.

Wishing you all a quiet and peaceful weekend. And if you are short on roosters, come see us in San Ignatio where they rule the roost and more!

Predominately Blunted Beats

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Thankful Thursday #10

Today, I am taking a slightly different approach to Thankful Thursday. Whereas I usually have a longish gratitude list, today I am going to list only one thing for which I am thankful. That is because the one thing for which I am grateful is very powerful: the grace of God.

In doing so, I will relate a popular anecdote, which is worth repeating on the off-chance that you have not yet heard it. In this anecdote a very chaste man who has loved and obeyed God all of his life ends up at the pearly gates after death, met by St. Peter.

"To enter these gates," said St. Peter, "you need 100 points. Tell me from where your 100 points will come."

The man furrowed his brow for an instant, and the obvious sprang forth from his mouth, "I never missed a Sunday service."

"Ten points," announced St. Peter.

The man was flabbergasted. Only ten points? Hm... He furrowed his brow again and then brightened. "I was a catechist for fifteen years."

"Five points," announced St. Peter.

The man was even more flabbergasted and thought long and hard about where he could gather some points.

"I worked at a soup kitchen every Wednesday for three years," he offered hopefully.

"Three points," pronounced St. Peter.

The man began to panic. Where could he find more points? Oh! Money! "I donated nearly $10,000 to my church over my lifetime," he pointed out with pride.

"One point," pronounced St. Peter.

The man was now in a full-fledged panic. He looked at St. Peter, his head empty of thought, and wailed, "At this rate, I will only enter Heaven by the grace of God."

"Bingo!" replied St. Peter. "You're in." With that, he opened the gates.

I am very grateful for the grace of God. What more marvelous gift can there be on this earth?

Thankful Thursday is becoming a very popular meme. At this point, not knowing which came first, I am not sure to which meme host to link, so I am linking to two of the three I know about. Check out both of them for reading pleasure and a real upper.


hMore information about one of the Thankful Thursday memes can be found at the website of Grace Alone. This meme host is shared with other blogs so you will need to check to see which one is hosting any given month.

Link up with Greg's and Daryl's Thankful Thursday at Greg's General Store.

Blog-On-Blog Love: For Your Poolside, Occasionally Booty Thumpin' Good Times

As is the case with most folks these days, i imagine, i tend to find myself more interested in individual tracks these days than full albums or even EPs. Well, some of my fave writers from around the blogosphere have unearthed some pretty damn good full affairs lately, for FREE, no less. Far be it from me not to spread the love like peanut butter syrup over banana pancakes to you fine dead beats.

While Gorilla vs. Bear tends to find and post some incredible 7 inchers and individual tracks, i was pleasantly surprised when they recently hipped me to Monster Rally. At the time, GvB was pimping Monster Rally's latest, Palm Reader, over at his bandcamp page. Fortunately for me, the band had an additional EP up there for my listening pleasure, every bit as good as the latter. MR samples 50s and 60s polynesian and surf music, plain and simple, but he does it to brilliant effect. Plus, he's got one of the best MF Doom remixes i've heard in quite some time. While the Doom track is the exception, both the EP and Palm Reader are winners from start to finish. This is tiki torch pool party music right here, children, and it's good stuff.

mp3: Maori Mai (Monster Rally from EP)

mp3: A Voice (Monster Rally from Palm Reader)

Apple Juice Break continues to be an excellent source for beat music, and their taste for mixtapes and remixes is on par with the best of 'em. So i guess it was no surprise that i found out about Exile's Radio Bonus Album from them. What did come as a huge surprise is how freaking good this thing is. i'm almost afraid to buy the "original" when it comes out August 31. Exile has some monsters on duty for the remixes here, including Teebs, DJ Rhettmatic and Dibia$e. Plus, it's got the first heavy opera sample i've heard in a long, long time, so you know you're interested. You've got some of the bigger names in beat production, plus some damn fine up and comers, all for your listening pleasure. Highly recommended, he said bluntly.

mp3: So We Can Move (Teebs Remix) (The Dirty Science from Exile Radio Remixes)

mp3: It's Coming Down (DJ Rhettmatic Remix) (The Dirty Science from Exile Radio Remixes)

Completely by fluke whilst perusing Hype Machine, i found unouomedude on Dead As Digital. More spacey, poolside music, with reverb drenched vocals over ethereal beats and keys. i've never much bought into the whole "the season makes the music" mentality, but this music clearly would be wasted in an igloo, and you'd be a fool not to have it booming next to your deckside summer chair.

mp3: Buildings (unouomedude from Marsh)

And to close things out, a nod to our very good friend over at Berkeley Place. As fate would have it, he did a post earlier today on Chiddy Bang. Just this past weekend, one of my hip hop head buddies suggested them as a new band to check out. While i've only listened to it once myself and still am forming my own opinions, if those two recommend it, hell, that's good enough for me, which should be more than enough for you jackals.

mp3: Pro's Freestyle 1.0 (Chiddy Bang from The Swelly Express)

mp3: Silver Screen (Chiddy Bang from The Swelly Express)

Was My Father a Bad Man?

The question is a serious one and not a rhetorical one. I hope that some readers can shed light on something that has puzzled me ever since the book, The Da Vinci Code, was published. It was brought back into focus for me today when I read some literature about Our Lady of Good Success, the Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres. The literature stated that, according to Mother Mariana, "Our Lady prophesied that at the end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century Satan would reign almost completely by the means of the Masonic sect."

Wikipedia shows the Masons in a different light, as a social organization. I cannot summarize the whole article here for it is quite long, but you can read it for yourself: Freemasonry. Apparently, people who were considered good and moral and all that wonderful kind of stuff, like George Washington, were members of the Masons. Where I grew up in Maine and New Hampshire, the Masons were considered to be community leaders with good morals. Most attended church. From the Wikipedia article, the central statement for me was the following: "Freemasonry's central preoccupations remain charitable work within a local or wider community, moral uprightness (in most cases requiring a belief in a Supreme Being) as well as the development and maintenance of fraternal friendship – as James Anderson's Constitutions originally urged – amongst brethren."

So, I don't get it. My father was a Mason. Was he a bad man? Does anyone know?

Live Review: The Black Keys at DAR Constitution, 7-26-10

i'm beginning to think the Black Keys are incapable of putting on a bad show. i've seen Dan Auerbach tear it up solo apparently while suffering from the flu, and while last night may not have been my favorite time seeing them, to claim the boys were in less than their usual rarefied air would simply be untrue.

It might have had something to do with the fact that my ass hat of a brother who i also bought tickets for showed up almost half an hour late, or it may have just been the fact that i'm not a huge fan of DAR, but i couldn't quite get into the swing of things last night.

It certainly wasn't openers The Morning Benders. While my knowledge of them is largely limited to that cover CD they put out a couple of years ago, they certainly performed admirably. While they seemed somewhat mismatched with the harder sounding Keys at first, by the time they closed with "Excuses," damn near the entire house at that point (let's say just over half full) gave them a standing ovation, myself included.

Maybe i was thrown by the fact that Patrick Carney didn't wear glasses for the entire set, a first for me, and i've seen them at least a half dozen or so times already. i'm not sure how this is possible, but the heir apparent to John Bonham's frenzied style of playing appeared somehow even angrier than usual, beating the skins with a renewed passion one does not typically see outside of long-term, abusive relationships of the type found on "Cops" reruns. His drumming, however, remained flawless. The same should be said of Auerbach's guitar work, if anything better than the last couple of times i've seen him play solo. The song selection wasn't bad, either. Once they got "Stack Shot Billy" and "10 a.m. Automatic" out of the way, they pretty much covered my bases. More than half the show was dedicated to their earlier CDs, though they did bring out a bassists and keyboardist (another first for me seeing them), which wasn't a half bad affair at all, to help with their newer material. i'm not sure they added a whole hell of a lot, but they certainly didn't detract in the least. From the new CD, they played my faves again, ("Everlasting Light," "Next Girl," "Tighten Up," "Howlin' for You"), so it couldn't have been that, either. They did play their Twilight track, and while a kick-ass tune, teenage vampires do piss me off something fierce.

i dunno. Maybe my shoes were too tight, because upon further review, they obviously rocked last night.

Never mind. These are not the droids you're looking for. Move along; move along.

mp3: Excuses (The Morning Benders from Big Echo)

mp3: Ohio (The Black Keys from previous 7", now available at the website for the price of your email addy)

mp3: "Fight for Air" Mash-up (Mr. Dibbs sampling the Black Keys from Attack & Release)

100 Shows of 2010 - #44: Wye Oak @ Rock’n’Roll Hotel, 7/22/10

This show was, in a cruel, cruel way, a wee bit ironic. I can’t remember the last time a show at the Hotel started at a time even close to the scheduled start time. But of course, on a night when it takes me nearly half an hour to park the car, the show naturally starts on the dot. The end result of that unfortunate promptness was that I missed the daggum amazing Gamble House, but it wasn’t all gloom and doom. I did witness a pretty darned triumphant set by Baltimore’s own Wye Oak, and that turned my little frown right upsidedown. Hot diggity dog, indeed.

MINI RECAP: Wye Oak = Shiver Me Timbers! Overall score: A.

There I was, sulking away in the corner as Wye Oak set up. And then they started to play, and my little black cloud of a mood was instantly mollified. They totally caught me off guard with the sheer awesome of their live sound. Starting off with a big, beefy swell of noise, they kept things turned to 11 for the vast majority of their set. Jenn Wasner’s voice absolutely blew me away, steamy and smoky and alternately sultry and slightly snarling. The driving beat of the drum and that voice together made for quite a pairing, this is a band with big time bite. At times the band veered wildly between ethereal beauty and threatening darkness, and lord knows I love a little dark/light juxtaposition. The noise was extreme, and I loved just about everything about it. Wye Oak, on this night, was a lot more raw than the recorded material I’ve heard of theirs, and the ferocity of the set sounded some kinda wonderful to me.

I must confess, as bummed as I initially was, if I had to miss Gamble House, Wye Oak was certainly more than ample as a runner-up prize. I’d never been much of a fan, but after seeing this set, I might be more inclined to pay due diligence to Wye Oak from now on. You might should do the same.

mp3: My Neighbor (Wye Oak from My Neighbor/My Creator)

Album Review: She & Him – Volume Two

I tell you what, y’all. The wait for this one sure felt like a deep, dark, black hole of oblivion. But the end result, Volume Two certainly proves that old adage that very, very good things come to those who wait. Well, in this instance anyway. She & Him's adorable Zooey and dreamy M. put their heads together once more and came up with another batch of beautiful songs, heavy with the ghosts of country and girl group greats. These two together are utterly irresistible, between Zooey’s voice and M.’s guitar play.

They really hit the ground running straight away this time. Volume Two seems more polished than the volume that preceded it. It’s shinier, newer, and even sleeker. “In The Sun” shimmies along with that big symphonic sweep of the golden olden days, full of Zooey’s inherent quirkiness and undeniable catchiness. “Don’t Look Back” calls to mind both early Beach Boys and classic Motown, with “doo doo doos” aplenty and a ravishing retro wash to the song’s production. “Ridin’ In My Car” is impeccable in its throwback sound, with Zooey and M. showing off fantastic boy-girl vocals and the whole shebang sounding like a soda fountain classic.

I love the mix of British Invasion sounds and that twangin’ guitar of M.’s on “Gonna Get Along Without You Now”, which also lets Zooey unleash some of that Baby Patsy Cline she’s got in that voice of her. “Gonna find somebody that’s twice as cute/cuz I didn’t like you anyhow,” she prettily pouts, as M. strums along. The acoustic guitar intro to “Sing” is pretty special, and the song itself is just another gem. “Over It Over Again” is one of my favorites, a classic She & Him song with girl group sashaying alongside country and pop to dazzling effect. O, how I love it.

Now friends, with an album of this length, you might expect some throwaway songs. Well, there aren’t any. Each and every song is as good as the one before and after it. I wasn’t sure if lightning could strike twice for this unlikely dynamic duo, but strike it did. I might still be slightly partial to Volume One, but with enough listens to Volume Two I very likely could soon be singing another tune. Hot damn, these two have found musical soulmates in each other, and I’d say we’re all pretty lucky these kids got together to make music. Now, the big question is, are we gonna have to wait this long for Volume Three?

mp3: In The Sun (She & Him from Volume Two)

The Price of a Miracle

Here we go again with another Internet story. My sister keeps sending them, and they keep being good enough to share with others. I hope this one is true. I have seen it before, but each time I read it, it is a tear-jerker.

A little girl went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet.

She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes.

Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way six blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door.

She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention, but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it!

"And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. "I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages," he continued without waiting for a reply to his question.

"Well, I want to talk to you about my brother," Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. "He's really, really sick, and I want to buy a miracle."

"I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.

"His name is Andrew, and he has something bad growing inside his head. My Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So, how much does a miracle cost?"

"We don't sell miracles here, little girl. I'm sorry but I can't help you," the pharmacist said, softening a little.

"Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs."

The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, "What kind of a miracle does your brother need?"

"I don't know," Tess replied, her eyes welling up. "I just know he's really sick, and Mommy says he needs an operation. Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my money."

"How much do you have?" asked the man from Chicago.

"One dollar and eleven cents," Tess answered barely audible. "And it's all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to."

"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man. "A dollar and eleven cents -- the exact price of a miracle for little brothers."

He took her money in one hand, and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said. " Take me to where you live. I wan to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the miracle you need."

That well-dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a neurosurgeon. The operation was completed free of charge, and it wasn't long until Andrew was home again and doing well. Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place.

"That surgery," her mom whispered to Tess, "was a real miracle; I wonder how much it would have cost."

Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost: one dollar and eleven cents plus the faith of a little child.

(Double-posted: 100th Lamb and Mahlou Musings.)

The Scott Pilgrim Soundtrack

No, we don't have an early leak of what sure's to be this year's most kick ass soundtrack. i'm actually referring to the series of graphic novels here. While i have high hopes for the flick, i've been a fan of Bryan Lee O'Malley's comic book masterpiece for a few years now. He just released Book Six last week, which i finished last night. Not quite as fun and upbeat as Books Four (Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together) and Five (Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe) (my two favorite of the series), but a pretty decent ending nonetheless.

Anyway, this is a music blog, not a comics blog (go here for the best combo you'll find on that), so today's post actually is a recreation from the end of Book Three. On the final page, in a section marked, "this is kind of like a blog," O'Malley mentions he puts together mix CDs for each novel he writes, then proceeds to list a bunch of tracks from said mixes. Well, after much searching, i finally was able to procure each and every track, which i'm sure you're dying to hear, too. While it's predominantly indie, there's a surprising amount of alt-country, too. Title track "Scott Pilgrim" by the Plumtrees could be my new favorite, peppy indie track. Too bad i'm getting to the table a few years late on this one. Other notes of personal interest--includes the first Neil Young solo track i've ever liked, introduced me to the Flying Burrito Brothers, furthered my interest in learning more about Joel Plaskett, and has kick ass tracks by Spoon and the Old 97s. That's good eatin' right there, folks.

If this mixtape had a face, i'd kiss it.

J'accuse!!!

mp3: Scott Pilgrim (Plumtree from Predicts the Future)

mp3: In Need of Medical Attention (Joel Plaskett from In Need of Medical Attention)

mp3: Written All Over Me (Joel Plaskett from Truthfully Truthfully)

mp3: To Ramona (The Flying Burrito Brothers from Hot Burritos! The Flying Burrito Brothers Anthology 1969-1972)

mp3: By Your Side (Beachwood Sparks from Once We Were Trees (British Release))

mp3: Left of the Dial (The Replacements from Tim)

mp3: Can't Hardly Wait (The Replacements from Pleased to Meet Me)

mp3: Grindstone (Uncle Tupelo from March 16-20, 1992)

mp3: Borrowed Tune (Neil Young from Tonight's the Night)

mp3: Waiting for the Kid to Come Out (Spoon from Soft Effects EP)

mp3: Let the Idiot Speak (Old 97's from Fight Songs)

mp3: American Girl (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from Greatest Hits)

Album Review: These United States – What Lasts

What do near-death experiences, a stolen laptop, and the Keystone State have in common? The answer, friends, is the latest These United States album, heretofore known as What Lasts. The fourth TUS record (recorded in Pennsylvania, after singer Jesse Elliott’s near-drowning, the poor boy also having had his laptop stolen) is, as I’ve come to expect and look forward to from this band, a triumph. Running through the record for the first time, I awaited the start of each song with baited breath weighted down with heavy anticipation, because as you all know, TUS is most assuredly one of LET’s most pet of pet bands. And once more, they’ve proven their worth as one of the most relevant, most important bands of our time.

Turning another page in the goodness gracious great story that is the tall, tall These United States tale, Jesse Elliott and the fantastic four (aka Robby, Justin, Colin, and Tom) that have become permanent fellows of TUS exhibit nothing short of master class on What Lasts. The record itself feels more intimate, more personal than has any TUS record before it. At times it’s even rather stone cold sobering, the more winsome musical follies of, say, Crimes, a distant memory down a dusty road in the rearview mirror. What lies ahead is the wide open, big sky country sound of maturation, the sound of melancholy, and the sound of serious contemplative introspection.

But lest you think These United States has left the good jangle behind them, fret not. Songs like the splendid “The Great River” and “Water & Wheat” proudly fly that old faithful TUS jingle pop folk banner. It must be said that the bulk of What Lasts is indeed on the more serious side of the coin, though, which while initially disquieting becomes more and more appealing as the record goes on. “Life&Death She&I” is cause for both sadness and joy, regarding the subject matter and 70s-esque feel to the beat with that foxy steel, respectively. Title track “What Lasts” is music to mope to, with the haunting, shimmery steel and Elliott’s voice taking on particularly plaintive emotional tones. They often seem to tread water that greats like The Band might approve of, and that I most certainly do.

Sure, it’s the most serious These United States record to date. It made me furrow my brow just a touch. But What Lasts is a tremendously fantastic record. And hell, I’m still waiting for Jesse to put a foot wrong when it comes to his lyrics. He once more shows the kids how to write a record full of amazing songs. They’ve come such a very long way from the gate to the garden of Eden. And yet, perhaps they’ve just come full circle. When it comes to These United States, only the old devil moon really knows. And that’s the way it ought to be.

mp3: The Great River (These United States from What Lasts)

Happy Birthday, Mick

Y’all know this already, but perhaps it bears repeating that I love The Rolling Stones. Love above just about all else. To me, it doesn’t get much better than Mick & Keith, and that blanket statement applies to many things (voracious appetites for the rock lifestyle, affinity for skinny pants, unbeatable songcraft, etc.). And as such, I certainly couldn’t let the birthday of the leader of my beloved band of legends pass by unheralded.

Yes, little lads and ladettes, today is the birthday of Mister Mick Jagger, otherwise known as The Voice (or The Lips). When it comes to frontmen, there is none better than this man. Nor, possibly, will there be better. Those pouty lips, those undulating hips…his primal persona behind the mic (and probably behind closed doors, too) means that the man is and forever shall be walking sex. And let’s face it. In the realms of rock, that’s exactly how it should be.

A very hearty, lusty, and enthusiastic birthday to Mick.

mp3: Dead Flowers (Townes Van Zandt from the Big Lebowski Soundtrack)

mp3: I'm A King Bee (The Rolling Stones from England's Newest Hitmakers)

Monday Morning Meditation #49: Relationships Are Two-Sided

As I worked on this post, I read and read and read. I read all the way through 2 Chronicles. Nothing touched me. Then I bored into Nehemiah. Nothing touched me. So I read more, and still nothing touched me. Then I understood what was happening. I was reading for me. I was waiting for something to touch me. But it is not about me. (Golly, how hard it is to internalize that truth.) Then, at last, I did what I usually do before I begin reading. I asked God what He wanted me to take away from the reading, what He wanted me to put into this post. Shortly after that, the words of Nehemiah 9 reached out and stopped me. This is a beautiful and striking passage, one worth reading slowly, in detail, over and over. (The meditation will be more meaningful, I think, if you do the reading now and make your own assessment of the text before reading mine.)

Reading: Nehemiah 9.

Meditation: When I started out reading, I was committing the same mistake that the Israelis were described as making. I forgot that relationships are two-way, not one-way. The Israelis moved along, self-absorbed in their lives; I moved along, self-absorbed in my reading. All the time, God kept performing miracle after miracle for them, providing for them, and forgiving them their arrogant ignorance of Him, of the other side of the relationship. In my case, I spent years literally as a blest atheist; God kept performing miracles in my life that I did not see, providing for me although I did not notice, and forgiving me for the one-sided relationship. This morning, as I read, He stayed in the background, patiently waiting for that moment when I would remember that I was not reading for myself but for Him, when I would remember that I did not move from writing for academic presses to writing for Him by my own decision but by His direction, and, most important, when I would remember that there is no relationship without the participation of both parties.

I always begin the lectio part of lectio divina with a short prayer for guidance. This morning, the prayer was so short as not to exist, and I got exactly what I asked for: nothing. When I remembered that there were two of us involved her, confessed my failing, and asked for help, I got the help I needed, as did the Israelis in this story in Nemehia when they confessed their sins and renewed their covenant with God.

Contemplation: That is far as I can go with you this Monday morning. I must retire to private prayer to thank God for giving me yet another chance, to praise Him for His capacity for forgiveness, to repent for any time that I might have tried to go it alone, forgetting that relationships are two-sided, and to ask God to keep tapping me on the shoulder when I become selfishly oblivious to His presence as much as I regret that obliviousness later. Then I will spend as much time as I can in contemplation, my favorite part of the day, letting God take over the direction in which my relationship with Him moves.

I will leave you to your prayer and contemplation, but first, I would like to bring to your attention a Monday morning prayer post that you might enjoy:

Fr. Austin Fleming, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and pastor in Concord, Massachusetts, posts a prayer each Monday morning that he calls "Monday Morning Offering." I enjoy his prayers very much. I hope you also will find them inspirational. He has graciously given me permission to include a link to his blog on my Monday Morning Meditation posts. (During the week, he also posts great homilies and other thoughtful discussions. I enjoy reading those, too.)

For additional inspiration throughout the week, I would point out two sets of blogs: (1) the list of devotional blogs that follow the enumeration of Monday Morning Meditations on the sidebar of this blog and (2) my blogroll, where I am following a number of inspirational priests and writers about spiritual matters. I learn so very much from all these people. I highly recommend them to you.

Sabbath Sunday #30: DWM: Driving While Mexican

Fr. Christian Mathis (Blessed Is the Kingdom) has made the suggestion that we "rest" on the Sabbath by taking a break from our normal blogging and sharing an older post of which we are particularly fond. Rest? Gladly! I don't get to do that very often, but now, thanks to Fr. Christian, I get to do it at least once a week -- and it gives me more time to spend with God, which is a wonderful gift.

For this week, I re-selected DWM: Driving While Mexican, July 11th's post which probably no one got to see because the Blest Atheist blog went down less than an hour after I posted it. I wish I could say that this is an old post and the problem no longer exists. However, it does. The recent disturbances in Oakland over the verdict of a white policeman convicted of manslaughter of a black suspect (the African-American community in Oakland wanted a murder conviction) tells us that even here in California where we think that racial prejudice is a think of the past people still think along lines of race when it comes to critical events. Let's pray for what the Soviets used to call "the light future," but in the broader sense of those words than what the Soviets had in mind.

Have a restful and peaceful Sabbath!

Four Days

Last weekend, as I have mentioned in a few blog posts in passing, I was blessed to be able to attend a four-day retreat at St. Francis Retreat Center (SFRC) in San Juan Bautista, California. I spend a lot of time at SFRC since it is not far from where I live. I attend First Fridays there, participate in center-led retreats, and contribute to the center on a regular basis. (The center burned down in 2006, and for the next three years, every penny that was collected mattered. The beautiful new center opened in 2009. Until then retreats were held in mobile buildings. As with so many other things in life, good came from bad. Were it not for the fire, in which no one got hurt, the friars and community would not likely have built a new center for quite some time, if at all. In that rebuilding I have also been able to participate, relying on God to help me keep a rather surprising financial contribution: for details see The Journey Is More Important Than the Destination.)

This particular retreat was different. It was conducted by the priest who leads our contemplative prayer group. It was the first time I had ever spent so much time in silence. After all, I am an extrovert. Silence does not come naturally. I even talk to birds and squirrels!

The silence, however, was exactly what I needed to finish off a week that had gone from frenetic to tranquil, thanks to God answering my wail while in Washington to return home and be able to spend the entire retreat in retreat activities. Until the day before the retreat I had been unable to arrange for a timely arrival for Thursday evening (my plane was supposed to arrive from Washington, DC late in the afternoon) and unable to get the full day off on Friday (I had a mandatory meeting Friday afternoon). When I begged God, however, to bring me back home and back to Him, suddenly flights were cancelled, requirements were changed, and even the mandatory meeting was postponed. Amazingly, I had the entire retreat time off, all four days.

I consider these four days God's gift to me. God certainly spoils me! (But I hope He does not stop because I like it!)

Crossing The Pond #1: dante

Yes, my little sweeties, yours truly has been known to be quite an Anglophile. And seeing as I’ve been feeling a wee bit nostalgic regarding my many wonderful months spent in bonnie Scotland, I figured now was the perfect time to launch a feature focusing on, you guessed it, bands from the United Kingdom (and Ireland).

I couldn’t ask for a better band to start things off with, given my love of those bands from north of the Borders. Dante is a band of “Edinburghers and Shetlanders who make alt folk music,” but that’s just the very vaguest of overviews of what this band does. Yes, there is indeed folk in mass quantities in their music, no doubt about it. But these wonderful souls also incorporate hearty doses of traditional Scottish music into their fine, fine songs, mostly exhibited with that fantastic fiddle. It’s a delicate balance of old and new, and it works together seamlessly, beautifully. At times you might hear shades of my beloved Idlewild, be it in the dark contemplation of the lyrics to the building walls of instrumentation present in dante’s songs. And on certain occasions, you might just think you were dancing at a traditional ceilidh somewhere in the countryside as the fiddle does cartwheels all around.

Dante is a band not to be missed, ye lords and ladies. Whet your appetite with the pair of songs below, and prepare to fall in love.

mp3: Monochrome (dante from the Monochrome EP)

mp3: This Island (dante from the Monochrome EP)

Album Review: Washed Out – Life Of Leisure EP

I’m deathly afraid of sharks (mamas, don’t let your kiddies alone with Jaws when they’re young and impressionable), which means of course that I don’t venture out into the surf much if I can help it. However, the weather here in the greater DC metro area has been so disgustingly, abysmally, horrifyingly hot and humid lately that the cover of Ernest Greene's, better known as Washed Out’s Life Of Leisure EP makes me want to be that girl, floating along in a glassy sunset sea, preferably while the sharks are otherwise engaged and Washed Out is playing somewhere on a stereo nearby. This EP is a damn fine way to take the edge off the summertime, my sweets, from the very first breath to the last. It takes those hazy crazy days of summer and mixes and undulates and sleeks them into something effortlessly, breathtakingly beautiful.

“Get Up” is a slow, dreamsicle of a song, hithering and thithering along on a placid rhythm, as cool as the other side of the pillow. If possible, “New Theory” is even cooler, icy beats and presenting itself as a perfect party-by-the-beach-fire song. Or the perfect lounge-by-the-pool-while-double-fisting-frozen-drinks kinda song. You get the idea. It’s all things lovely and summerproof. Things keep drifting along gloriously with “Hold Out”, which at three and a half minutes clocks in as the EP’s longest song. “Feel It All Around” has an air of back in the day to it, a song that certainly lives quite a life of leisure. Yet again, the downtempo meander hits the spot. “Lately”, well, that’s another hotdiggitydog song. And “You’ll See It”, friends, if you haven’t already heard it, is nothing short of hypnotic. The liveliest of the songs, it is just about perfect in every way. It’s so good you just might end up listening to it for hours, over and over and over and over. And yes, I am speaking from personal experience.

Sweltering temps regardless, Washed Out has hereby produced one of the finest damn EPs of recent memory. It’s new and old and fresh and clean and hot to trot and ice cold. I suspect I’ll adore this collection of songs just as much in the dead of winter as I do today, in the midst of the sizzle of late July. I love it so, and you might just love it too.

mp3: New Theory (Washed Out from Life Of Leisure) (song removed by request, sorry kiddos. Don't blame us.)