Otherwise Engaged: Bare Wires

It is an unfortunate reality for the serious concertgoer that on occasion, there will be more than one show on any given night that you really, really, REALLY wanna go to. Since the vast majority of us don't own a time machine, nor have the ability to either clone ourselves or split ourselves in half (or thirds or quarters, depending on the night in question), this tends to present a problem. Difficult decisions are made based on a multitude of variables (perhaps some of you even make lists of pros and cons), and ultimately, a show is chosen. But those other shows are still gonna be killer, and I'd like to give a little face time to the shows that, while I can't go myself, are highly recommended all the same.

Who here likes free shows? Yeah? Me too. Free shows are great, especially when there's a killer band involved. Tonight, DC denizens, you can take in some seriously awesome free music over at Comet Ping Pong, when Oakland's Bare Wires come to town and tear shit up. Bare Wires reminds me a whole lot of some vintage T. Rex, though not quite as glittery and with more fantastic fuzz and rough and ready swagger. If you're in need of something fun to do tonight, my little District-ian friends, look no further.

mp3: Don't Ever Change (Bare Wires from Seeking Love)

The Untitled Interview #119: Starring Hammer No More The Fingers

If you really think about it, friends, the 90s was a pretty fine time for music. The dudes of Hammer No More The Fingers appreciate that fact, and today the nifty North Carolinians release their second record, Black Shark, full of college rock staples and much rambunctious rockery. The guys are always a good time live and in person, so DC kids get thee down to the Red Palace tomorrow evening for what will be one heck of a good time. Below, the three gentlemen Hammer describe themselves for your reading pleasure.

HAMMER NO MORE THE FINGERS!

AS A MOVIE: The Room. Awfully Awesome.

AS A DRINK: Dark & Stormy. Spicy n' Drunky.

AS A WEATHER EVENT: Carolina Hurricane.

AS AN OBSCURE VINTAGE LP: The Kelly Family - Ain't Gonna Pee Pee My Bed Tonight. Please look up.

AS A MOMENT IN HISTORY: The invention of Betamax.

AS A DENOMINATION OF CURRENCY: Camel Cash.

AS A SPOT IN NORTH CAROLINA: The Life Crystals which lie beneath the city of Asheville.

AS A VIDEO GAME/CHARACTER THEREIN: Altered Beast. Definitely Altered Beast!

AS A WORK OF LITERATURE: Savage Trust by Cassie Edwards. Please look up.

AS A HISTORICAL FIGURE: Icke: The Overlord of Reptilian Humanoids.

AS A CAMPAIGN PROMISE: We will bring the Thunder to your Dome. All ya gotta do is ask a' Hammer.

mp3: Leroy (Hammer No More The Fingers from Black Shark)

Monday Morning Meditation #75: What Happens When We Ignore God

I am continuing to read the Book of Jeremiah both at home on my own and in our Bible Studies class, a great coincidence of effort. I am starting to get to know Jeremiah, the prophet and the man, much better, and in getting to know him, I am beginning to develop a good deal of empathy for me. Goodness, what a difficult time of it he had! The messages he was asked to deliver were quite alarming ones and certainly not designed to increase his popularity. This week I spent time reading through the messages of Jeremiah 2. These messages can be summarized briefly as (1) God was previously pleased with Israel because of Israel's devotion to and love of God; (2) God expresses hurt because Israel moved away from God, not being grateful for previous assistance and not basing their new beliefs on anything except superstition and convenient falsehood; and (3) God, in anger, will punish Israel as much because Israel has turned away as because Israel has the audacity to say that it has not sinned when it has. The passage is powerful and rich. I suggest taking a look at it in its entirety, which is too long to include here.

Reading: Jeremiah 2.

Meditation: This passage is as applicable to us today as it was in the days of Jeremiah -- at least, for me it hits home. I think it must be especially poignant for converts, like me. Initially, in coming to faith, there is such a strong relationship with God, so strong and compelling that living every day in such close communion changes the whole nature of one's life. With time, it becomes easier to take God for granted, and I thank God every time that I get a tap on the shoulder reminding not to do that. It is equally easy to justify the things we do as "okay" when they might be just a tad off -- a little too self-interested, a little less humble than we should be, a little too much time on "fun" activities when being with God is just as much "fun."

What struck me more than anything else is something that I, and perhaps others, think about too little. How does God feel when we stray and sin? We know how we feel, and perhaps we fear God's punishment for doing so although God has shown over and over that forgiveness and love are more likely than punishment so coming back to God is something we should look forward to and not fear. I find the Sacrament of Reconciliation to be a very comforting and motivating one in that respect. That God prefers to help us, love us, drawn us into His arms is clear from every prophet He has ever sent mankind. I am grateful for the prophet, Jeremiah, because through him God has shared with us an insight into these loving and caring traits, even His ability to be hurt by us.

Contemplation: That is far as I can go with you this Monday morning. I now retire to private prayer to repent for those too-many times I have caused pain to God, to praise God for the incredible depth of His love, to thank God for giving me every chance to repent and try to avoid hurting Him again, and to ask Him not to give up on me even if I am a slow learner and ornery at times. Then I will move on to contemplation, my favorite part of the day, letting God take over the direction in which my relationship with Him moves.

I will leave you now to your prayer and contemplation. First, though, 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 think 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, as do readers of this blog who have taken the stroll over to his blog.)

For additional inspiration throughout the week, I would point out two sets of blogs: (1) the list of devotional blogs on my sidebar 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.

Spiritual Sunday #20: Friends Are God's Way of Taking Care of Us

For more Spiritual Sunday posts, I recommend that you wander over to the website of Charlotte and http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifGinger, who host the Spiritual Sunday meme.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Because I do not blog on Sundays -- keeping it as the sabbath, a practice started by Fr. Christian Mathis (Blessed Is the Kingdom) -- I use older posts (forgotten perhaps but hopefully still interesting) from one or another of my blogs that seem appropriate for this meme. It seems to work to bring out the older posts that many have not read before or ones from other blogs I maintain that readers of 100th Lamb may not know about. Since I seem to be on a run with angel stories, let me share yet another: Friends Are God's Way of Taking Care of Us. I hope you will enjoy the story.

Wishing you a peaceful Sunday!

Singles Club: Thieving Irons

I'm down here in the mystical mountains of Harrisonburg covering MACRoCk, and it's such a daggum beautiful day here that I figured I'd give y'all a little treat, a nice little ditty that feels totally at home and at peace here amongst the spectacular natural scenery of the Shenandoah.

The generosity of Thieving Irons has led them to decide to start offering free songs hither and thither, and the first such freebie is a gorgeous, stripped-down version of the fantastic "Tow The Line." It's amazing how different a song can sound given a rejigging, and this here version sounds like a completely new song. It's a languid daydream of a song, and I think you're agree it's rather lovely. Make sure you sign up to get more info on the forthcoming free tracks. And don't forget to pick up a copy of the record while you're at it.

7 Quick Takes Friday #56

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

Ah, being home is SO good. And I have a whole month of being home to look forward to! (Well, at least, as far as I know I do not have to travel anywhere in April, but that could change on a day's notice.) Of course, there is plenty to do since we have this new house. I dropped boxes at the new place, left Donnie to clean up the old place, and took off for the Middle East. Now I have to pay the price for doing that and get all the unpacking done while living for a while in modern cardboard decor.

1. Tripping to Qatar for a conference this past week certainly came with adventure. I should have missed the connection in Philadelphia on the Charlotte-Philly-Manchester (UK) flight because my flight from Charlotte was delayed for longer than my layover; then the pilot announced that he was too tired to fly and got off the plane. So, a new pilot had to be found. Now, nearly everyone would have missed their connections. However, the replacement pilot, a cowboy of the skies, was determined that we would make up all the lost time. He told us not to get out of our seats, put on the seat buckle sign, and then careened up the coast, bumping up and down among the air pockets. We arrived in time for me to make my connection.

2. My suitcase had an even greater adventure. It ditched me in the UK, was sighted a couple of days later, but was not captured and returned to me until two hours before I left the conference. When it arrived, the suitcase had a tag that read "traveling unaccompanied." That suitcase has racked up more frequent flyer miles than I have! My sister thinks it deserves its own frequent flyer number, and my niece thinks it should be decalred sentient and independent.

3. On the plane from Manchester, UK to Doha, I was thrilled to find myself seated beside one of the architects of contemporary Doha. His work is so beautiful -- large, glassy, sophisticated, modern buildings. He was actually not disembarking in Doha but continuing on to Saudi Arabia, where he is going to be working on the new Economic City planned by King Abdullah.

4. Upon arrival, things did not settle down, suitcase aside. With nothing to unpack, I settled into my room my opening my computer and plugging in my surge protector. Immediately, there was a fireworks display. The surge protector charred itself and my hand. It seems that I caused a surge instead of protecting the computer from one. I forgot about the 110/220 difference! Sigh!

5. Since I was traveling all day Saturday and most of the day on Sunday, I was pleased to learn that there was a 6:00 p.m. Mass -- until I found out that we had a required reception for the conference at the same time. Ouch! Then, I learned that there would be a Mass on Monday at the same time. I talked my conference group into ending early, and four of us took off walking for the chapel, located about a mile from our conference location, across the desert. The wind was blowing pretty strongly against us, but we made it in time -- only to find out that Mass was every day at 6, except for Monday. Sigh!

6. On the return to the airport, we left a little early and stopped at the old souk in Doha for a dinner of hammour (the tastiest fish in the seas -- my opinion), mint lemonade (the tastiest drink in the world -- my opinion), and the regular run of "mezza" (humus, fettush, baba ganoush, metabel). For desert, I had om ali (lit., Ali's mother), the tastiest desert around -- my opinion.

7. Coming back through passport control in San Francisco, I guessed I raised the curiosity of the passport agent because he chatted with me for a while. I guess that makes a good agent -- someone who can act like he is carrying on pleasant chit-chat but is really looking for answers that are contradictory. Dunno what caught his attention, but I suppose it is not every day that someone from California goes to Qatar for a conference. Clearly, the agent had a good memory and good instincts. When my colleague stepped up after me, the agent asked him, "Do you work with Miss Beth?"

As I said in the beginning, it is great to be home, even if it means living amidst cardboard boxes, some of which I will get unpacked this weekend. Wishing you all a great weekend doing whatever you most want to do!

April 1: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Day

You might have grown up knowing the 1^st of April as being April Fool’s Day. But my lovelies, I’d like to suggest an alternative...I submit to you that April 1^st is hereby known as The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Day, in honor of one of my oh so very favoritest purveyors of tunes full of fuzzy, frothy goodness.

With a new record and a tour going on as we speak, TPOBPAH is in the process of making 2011 one heck of a year. If you’ve never seen them live, now’s your chance. And if you’re not yet in love with them, well, there’s never a better time that right about now.

mp3: Heart In Your Heartbreak (The Pains of Being Pure at Heart from Belong) (cheers, Music Under Fire!)