My iPod's Most Listened To Songs for 2011

It's New Year's Eve, which means it's that time again.

Time for the yearly peek at my iPod/iPhone for the "most played" songs for 2011.

As with most years, there's a delicious assortment here. The fun is in looking at the list and determining exactly why these songs made the list, and remembering the times and places I first got haunted by them.

So, without fanfare, here goes….


Eric's "Most Listened To Songs" for 2011
(The list includes: Song Name, Artist, and CD/Album) I have included urls for some of the folks I most hope you'll check out...EF)


1. "Keep It Simple" Roy Schneider Erleichda
Roy Schneider has been a Kerrville New Folk Finalist a few times now. He and Kim are lovely people, and it was so great to see them around the Camp Nashbill fires…and, frankly, all over The Ranch too.
This song is FAR AND AWAY the most-played of 2011. By that, I mean, almost twice as much as #2 or any of the rest of the songs on this list. I have a great memory of singing this song around campfires.


You should get this song. (And CD) It's just such a great, great message. If you're depressed, it might just singlehandedly pull you out of it. (I'm really not kidding…) Singing the chorus will lift you up. Promise.


I sang this at the top of my lungs on many a bike trip around White Rock this past year.

"Keep it simple. Everything don't have to be insane.
All the drama. Get's a little taxing on the brain.
Unplug your head, take a walk
Far from the TV, and all the talk…talk….talk…talk…talk.
Look around, take it in.
Let it all be real again.
And breathe in the sunshine.
And breathe in the sunshine.
Breathe."


 I promise you, you'll find yourself singing along. And, you might find yourself compelled to get your butt outside into the world, and feel that lovely Sun.


2. "My Maria"    B.W. Stevenson & Larry Mjhoberac    Radio Hits of the '70s
Some of the songs that make this list each year do so because they're songs that Connections is working on for a new show. I've been sworn to secrecy about the new show (which debuts in late January, down in Kaufman County…), but for obvious reasons, this would be an awesome one for me personally to get to sing in a hypothetical "Super Hits of the 70s, Part II."
You know, hypothetically.


3. "For My Wedding"    Don Henley    The Very Best of Don Henley
I was surprised to see this one at #3. I stumbled on this older song, when I downloaded "The Very Best" from iTunes. It lands at number three, because I spent a lot of time learning it this year. I've said before that Henley's "Heart of the Matter" is, far and away, the most emotionally mature song ever to make the pop charts. (I'd love to hear any other nominations that anybody thinks can beat it...)


This is another great one. Clearly written for his wedding some years back, it's another great message.


"To want want I have,
Take what I'm given
With grace.
These things I pray
On my wedding day."


And every day since too.


4. "All I Want Is A Garden"    Brother Sun    Brother Sun
Brother Sun --with members Joe Jencks, Pat Wictor, and Greg Greenway-- burst on to the folk scene this year. I think their CD is likely to be a number one seller on folk charts this year. They were just releasing it, back in May on The Ranch. Getting to be in a song circle with them one night, and hearing them in several other circles, was a great treat.


And, of course, we Camp Nashbill folks are always ready to burst with pride for our own brother, Joe Jencks. (And, for Pat, who often stops by to visit…)


This song closes out the CD, and really features their great harmonies. The chorus floated around in my head for weeks after Kerrville. Get this great CD and watch it float around in your head too.


5. "Wichita Lineman (feat. Billy Joel & Jerry Douglas)"    Jimmy Webb    Just Across the River
This CD is listed as a 2010 release. But I think it must have been very near year end. If you've ever loved Jimmy Webb's songs, Everybody loves Jimmy Webb songs, and this is something of a definitive collection, featuring he and a whompin' load of stars, putting our fresh versions of his best ones. The production is crisp and clean, and everybody provides great, great covers of these classic songs.


This song is by far my favorite on the record.


I mean, before I even heard the track….just the concept..
.Jimmy and Billy Joel singing?
Jerry Douglass playing his sweet Dobro?
Are you kidding me?
It doesn't get much better than this.


If you don't have this CD, you owe it to yourself.


6. "Ghost"  Amy Speace    Land Like a Bird
I've known of Amy for some years but, believe it or not, we never met until this May at Kerrville. I was in a great, great song circle with her one night, along with the aforementioned Brother Sun, Tom Prasada-Rao, Cary Cooper, and Eric Berger. It was a personal highlight of my festival.


Live long enough, and you certainly come to appreciate this song. It's lovely, haunting, and deeply true:


"Some people move through our lives and then they’re gone like the morning rain.
Some stand with the stillness of a soldier at their post and never change.
Some dance along the waterline like waves against the coast.
Some forever haunt you like a ghost."


O my, yes.


Great memories of being in quiet, late-night Kerrville circles, where a dozen voices provided beautiful, quiet and tender harmonies on this…


7. "The Coast"  Court Yard Hounds Court Yard Hounds
I was a bit surprised to see this one back on the list this year. Courtyard Hounds, two thirds of the Dixie Chicks, dominated last year's list with several songs.


I think this one makes it back on this year because I made a playlist for us to listen to on our vacation down at Port Aransas. We spent several days down there….myself, The Judge, and The Divine Miss M, along with her good friend, Miss C. This one was on that playlist, and so that's why it made it.


But it's just a great, great summer song. And, if you're taking a beach trip, it needs to be on your playlist.


8. "Fugitive"  David Gray    Draw the Line (Deluxe Version)
This CD was released in 2009, but I just found it this year, after watching David on "Live from the Artist's Den." (btw, that's a show not to miss on your TiVo…)


I've always been a big David Gray fan. I just love his style of having a driving beat/rhythm, but of allowing the acoustic interments (guitar/piano) to shine through. It's just so beautiful and haunting.


This song is a great, great example of David Gray's classic style, and the first song on the CD. So, it got lots of plays.


May I say, David Gray makes great biking music too.


9. "Galveston (feat. Lucinda Williams")    Jimmy Webb    Just Across the River
Another great cut from the aforementioned Jimmy Webb CD. I promise you. You need to get this CD.


10. "Ramblin' Man"    The Allman Brothers Band    A Decade of Hits 1969-1979
Hypothetically, this song would make a great addition to the new Connections "Super Hits of the 70s, Part II." And, since it has at least three layered electric guitar parts, hypothetically, I might need to listen to it a lot in order to learn a part.


Hypothetically.


11. "Land Like a Bird"    Amy Speace    Land Like a Bird
Another great song from Amy Speace's CD. This time, the title track. I LOVE songs that "build" slowly to a crescendo. This is one of those songs, and it builds beautifully.


BTW, besides being a lovely human being, great songwriter, and an amazing voice, Amy is a gifted blogger too. I often find real jewels on her blog, and you will too.


12. "It Takes the World"  Andrew Tinker    It Takes the World
This is an extremely late entry onto this list, and the fact that it makes it all the way to Number 12 speaks volumes.


Andrew Tinker was one of the very talented musicians I met at the "Winter SolstiCelebration," earlier this month. Man, what an amazing event that was. What a blessing to play two of my songs, and have the chance to hang out with such talented musicians and artists.


Andrew played piano and sort of organized the "house band" for the night. So, I looked him up and found that, among other things, he was once Polyphonic Spree, and also has this AMAZING CD. I mean, amazing. I love, love, love his music.


This is the second track on the CD, and features his great piano, along with some mighty tasty production.


You should definitely get this CD.


13. "Fear Of Wasted Time"    Court Yard Hounds    Court Yard Hounds
Wow. Another CYH song. I do love this song. It was on the list last year. It's kinda hard to make the list two years running. So, I guess this one means a lot. It's a lovely sentiment about how some of us are constantly moving not because we're obsessive, but because we know and understand just how precious each second of life is. Nobody lives like that every second. But, the more we can, the richer life is.


This song is about that, and about trying to explain it to somebody else.


The Judge has become very adept at buying t-shirts with funny sayings on them to give to our family members at Christmas. They're always some cute expression that seems to perfectly fit their personality somehow.


The one she got me this Christmas says:


"Relish Today.
Ketchup Tomorrow."


Yep. That's the way to live, alright.


14. "Aspen / These Days"    Dan Fogelberg    Captured Angel
Wow, really? I mean, yes, this is one of my favorite Dan Fogelberg songs. But I have no idea how it made it to Number 14. Except that it was on a bike ride playlist and, like David Gray, makes great biking music.


If I could "cover" (on a CD) one Fogelberg song, this one would a finalist. (And likely fight with the song below, at Number 20)


15. "First Chance"    David Gray    Draw the Line (Deluxe Version)
Another great song from the "Draw the Line" CD. Another great reason to get this CD is that it's not only got great studio tracks, but the iTunes version also includes some fantastic live cuts of Gray's most favorite songs.


16. "I Receive"    Israel Houghton    The Power of One
I grin that this song ends up next to David Gray. David Gray is an avowed, and proud, atheist, but I love his music far more than much of the drivel that passes for "Contemporary Christian Music."


Two years ago, however, I discovered Israel Houghton, after seeing him live at the "Justice Revival" in Dallas. Israel has become one of the lone "Contemporary Christian Artists" that makes it on to my iPod.


O my Lord. What an artist. This song is another one that was on my "bike mix" and I think that's why it's back on the list. It's my favorite from him, and is a song that simply builds to an amazing crescendo. I know that his theology will not sit well with everyone I know, but the musicianship is just so amazing.


And the way the rhythm track builds….it's mesmerizing....something you have to listen to over and over just to get the timing down.


Amazing stuff.


17. "Doctor My Eyes"    Jackson Browne    Jackson Browne
What a great, great song. Just the lyrics along make this one worth listen to, and listening to again.
But, hypothetically, it would also be good for that new "Connections" show too.




When was the last time you heard such a great and thought-proving lyric in a radio song today, btw? Does this make me sounds like an old fart?


Don't care. It's the truth.


18. "Wake Up Everybody (feat. Common & Melanie Fiona)" John Legend & The Roots Wake Up!
This song made it on to my "bike ride mix" too. This album, from The Roots and John Legend, is well worth your time.


19. "Don't Explain It Away"    Susan Werner    The Gospel Truth
Somehow, I missed this great CD when it came out a few years back. "The Gospel Truth" are all songs that focus on faith and God. They all have some kind of theological/spiritual theme to them. How did I miss this?!


It's hard to know exactly where Susan Werner comes out on the whole faith/God question. It's clear that she's got no time for the rigid fundamentalism that, IMHO, is so damaging in our culture and in others. But she seems to be leaning toward the "there's something more and we should pay attention."


This is the song that most captures that essence. What I like about it is that it starts with that common experience of "something more" that so many people have, whether or not they can logically call that "God" or whether or not they are comfortable with the dogma of an organized religion.


"And you need someone to guide you
When you have gone astray
Well, that still small voice inside you
Don't explain it away

Don't explain it away
When the moment mystifies you
Don't explain it away
And the feeling will surprise you
Don't explain it away

If you find yourself at the water's edge
And you're listening as the waves break on the shore
While a sea of stars rolls above your head
And you realize you're part of so much more

And you're struck dumb with wonder
Can't find the words to say
Don't break the spell you're under

Don't "


Word.
And if you can start listening to that voice? Not explain it away? It can take you all sorts of amazing places.


20. "Icarus Ascending"    Dan Fogelberg    Full Circle
This song was Number 2 on last year's list. I suppose I just wasn't done listening to it. It's on the "bike ride mix," and is one of the songs I'd most like to cover, as I said above. I wrote a lot about this song last year. So, if you want to read that, head here.


BTW, the chord progression of this song inspired my new song, "Changing."
(At least the first two chords….)


21. "Love Is The Reason"    Brother Sun    Brother Sun
Another amazing song from the amazing "Brother Sun" written by our Camp Nashbill brother, Joe Jencks. I'm so glad to see all the Brother Sun folks get their success. But I count Joe as a good friend, and am especially pleased for him.


Did I mention you should get this CD? Yeah. You should.


22. "Draw the Line"    David Gray    Draw the Line (Deluxe Version)
Another from David Gray's great CD.


23. "Pretty Maids All In A Row"    Eagles    Hotel California
Wow. Really? How'd this one make the list? I have no idea. Other than it's one of my favorite Eagles songs, and one that I'd love to sing in a show sometime. Such great harmonies.


This song now always reminds me of Kathleen Baskin and the blog I wrote about her following her death. Maybe I was remembering her? Maybe I was remembering other friends? Who knows.


"My, but we learn so slow
And heroes, they come and they go
And leave us behind, as if we're s'posed to know
Why?" 

It's a great song, and I'm glad to see it here.


24. "Turning Too"    Grace Pettis    Grace Pettis
O man, Grace is such a talent. She was a New Folk winner this past year at Kerrville. She's one of Camp Nashbill's own. And this is one of my favorite songs from her last CD. I just love the production, and her lovely, lovely voice. 

Start with this song, and you'll be hooked and end up buying all her stuff.


25. "Sunday Mornings"    Susan Werner    The Gospel Truth
Last but not least, there's another great song from Susan Werner. I'm really glad this one made the list, because it allows me to preach for a while…to preach about the reality of so many people in our world, and the reality of how so much of the "organized church" doesn't get it.


I continue to maintain that, if the Church (capital "C") has any future it desperately needs to understand what's happening among the many "spiritual, but not religious" folks out there. It (The Church) needs to understand why our children grow up and leave church altogether. It (The Church) needs to begin to understand just why so many people are saying "No Thank You" to all organized religion. See, we who are in the church keep thinking this is about our own personal denominations...and we theorize that it's because we're too liberal, blah, blah, blah...


Those of us who still embrace an organized religion need to get out more, associate with those we don't understand, and, above all, listen to them. (ie, stop preaching at them…)

End of sermon.


This beautiful song from Susan Werner achingly describes the disconnect/dissonance that so many people feel, between their inherent spiritual nature (which God gave them), and their unwillingness to stomach a Christian faith that too often fails to make room for doubt, ambiguity, and questions.


The lyric is so good, I've included all of it here:


"sunday morning
there is someplace that 'm supposed to be
keeps returning
the feeling keeps coming over me
just like music
or like sunlight on a distant memory
sunday morning
sunday morning

my mother choosing what to wear
my father combs his jet black hair
we are their little prizes
in our mary janes and clip on ties
we hurry down the aisle
the neighbors smile because we're
late again

on sunday morning
there is someplace ...

daddy prays because the money's tight
mama prays she'll raise her children right
and my brother prays he'll change
so he won't feel so very strangely out of tune

and i went back the other day
closed my eyes and tried to pray
but a voice spoke loud and clear
"you ask too many questions, dear"
and i said, "you ask too few"
that's why i still don't know quite what to do

on sunday mornings
there is someplace that 'm supposed to be
keeps returning
the feeling keeps coming over me
just like music
or like sunlight on a distant memory
sunday morning
sunday morning"


If you are a member of an organized church, and don't have a clue as to why this song is so lovely, poignant, and true. please hear this next phrase with all the love and kindness that I write it:

YOU are part of a the problem.


Five more that didn't make the "most played" list, but got played quite a bit and deserve mention:


"Anything Can Change" by Robin Hackett
"Everything is Alright"by  Rahim Quazi
"Respect" by Lainey Bernstein
"Balance"by  Kerri Arrista
"Love is All There Is" by Shanti Webb


All five of these were a part of the "Winter SolstiCelebration, an event that, as I've said before, I was honored to be a part of. This year featured a lot of original music that was handpicked by Amy Martin for just the right moment in the show. You can get Kerri's songs online, but I believe that the rest of these are still yet unreleased…perhaps coming to a CD near you soon?


What great, great music this all is, and you should check them all out.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

As always, it's a fun exercise to look back at these songs, and to find an arc to the year through what I was listening to, and what the iPod-gods tell me I played the most.

Hope you enjoyed it too.


And, as always, hope you'll check many of these folks out, if you haven't already.


(As always, if you like this post, then "share it" or "like" it on Facebook by clicking the box below, so others can see too...)

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Resolve To Not Resolve

Didn't make any New Year's Resolutions last year. Won't this year either. And this is from a guy that used to make them regularly.

More than this, I encourage you to join me. And I hold out a strange hope that you might find yourself achieving even MORE of your goals/resolutions if you do...er, don't.

About this time last year, I read this interesting little blog from Derek Sivers. Derek is the founder of CDBaby, and an all-around fascinating guy.

The gist is here:

"Tests done since 1933 show that people who talk about their intentions are less likely to make them happen.
Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that you're less motivated to do the hard work needed."

Interesting, huh?

The psychology is like this:
-- You resolve to be a runner.
-- You tell everybody.
-- You do out and buy running shoes.
-- You admire your new shoes, and your brain says "HEY! I'm a runner."
-- You never, or rarely, ever do actual running.

Here's a short video blog that Sivers did on the topic at TED:




I can tell you from my own life this most definitely works.

I won't go into too many details, because then I'd been doing what I said I wouldn't (making resolutions public...).

But this last year, I made significant progress on several things that have been part of my long-term "life to do" list; the kinds of things that almost always found their way onto a list of previous New Year's Resolutions, only to remain undone at the end of the next year.

It doesn't mean you don't constantly work to achieve your goals. You do. You must.

But in a pretty literal way, Nike was right. Doing means a whole lot more than talking about doing. Holding an intention or thought in your brain, and doing something real/tangible in the world, are two different things.

Sometimes, talking prevents us from doing. It give us the satisfaction that we've already done something. Or, if we fail to do something, it gives us the guilt of failure.

How does it work? Not really sure, beyond what Sivers suggests here. But my guess is it's related to this.
(UPDATE: Looks like the Powers That Be have taken down this video. It was Yoda, speaking his famous line: Do or Do Not Do. There is no try."

Have goals, for sure. Just keep some part of making them private...interior. Pray them to God. Meditate on them. Think about them all the time. Just don't talk them to death, and go around announcing them to everyone.

Especially for professional talkers/communicators, there's always the potential to overshare. (Yes, I'm talking about me. Yes, I know, this applies to Facebook).

We all need interior space. A place to connect with our deepest selves. For us introverts, we need a place to recharge our batteries. There is a powerful resolve that can come from inner intention, not shared, not publicized, not done with external fanfare or hoopla.

Focusing on a daily inner intention appears to be more powerful than making public, or outer, ones. At least it does in my life.

So, no resolutions again this year.
Just action.
Just doing, day by day, in a way that is gentle on myself when I fail.

It works.

Try it.

Just do it.

(As always, if you like this post, then "share it" or "like" it on Facebook by clicking the box below, so others can see too...)

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Christmas at the Rainbow Room

I'm never really sure exactly when it will happen, but Christmas always comes. A true grace of this season is that --despite our best efforts at killing it-- one way or another the true light manages to shine through.

I was beginning to worry that maybe this year it wouldn't happen. But then, it did.

For me, Christmas happened yesterday, December 23rd....Christmas Eve Eve. No matter what the calendar says tomorrow, yesterday is when Christmas came for me.

Our Northaven Youth decided that instead of sitting in front of their televisions this Christmas week, they'd do service projects. So, they did two; one Monday, and one yesterday. Yesterday's was at the Rainbow Room of the Resource Center of Dallas, down on Reagan Street. Fifteen of our youth, and a few adults, piled in cars and headed down to serve lunch to the clients.

May I first say, as an aside, that I am very proud of our youth that so many of them wanted to spend their holiday reaching out in love and service to others. We adults could take a cue. (Just sayin')

The clients who take their noon-meal at the Rainbow Room are mostly folks living with HIV/AIDS. Many are long-term survivors. Most are on a dizzying cocktail of medications that, all told, keep their life livable for them.

But many of the folks who wander through the Rainbow Room on an average weekday are among the poor in our society. Some live on the streets. Others have various addictions. For still others, it's just pretty clear they simply have a hard life, and are deeply grateful for a hot meal, and a place to rest for an hour or so in the middle of each day.

We arrived to find a small cadre of volunteers and staff getting things ready.
We donned aprons, hairnets, serving gloves. We spread out along the buffet line...a few kids serving entrees...breads...desserts....drinks, etc, etc....

And here they came. An hour and a half-worth of folks looking for perhaps their only hot meal of the day.

And there....in the midst of piped in Christmas Muzak from Josh Groban...surrounded by some plastic garland, tinsel, and a twinkling artificial tree....there, amidst worn linoleum floors, folding chairs and plastic tables....

There was Christmas....

In that room filled with suburban kids, and street-wise/worn survivors. African-American, Hispanic and Anglo men, who looked beaten down...some who look very very sick. And others who looked, well shall we say, flamboyantly glamorous. Yes, in the midst of that cross-section of humanity were a few gender-bending dressers too.

One that stood out was a radiant and smallish African-American man who was dressed in a solid-white outfit...with a solid white hat that looked like it might have belong to Auntie Mame. He might be living on the streets, for all we knew...but he was on the streets in style.

And his name? I kid you not. His name was Gabriel.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

So, then, we got done serving the meal there, and we took the kids back to the church. But I had one more errand that day...to deliver my sound system to the Christ's Foundry United Methodist Church. I'm lending it to them for some weeks because they don't yet have a permanent one. And, tonight, they need it.

Because, about the time we finished our 11 pm worship at Northaven, Christ's Foundry UMC will also finish their first-ever worship service in their new building.

And as that service ends, they'll gather beneath their new bell tower, and ring the bell precisely at midnight. (btw, the bell apparently has a lovely tie to Atlanta, Texas. But that's a story for another time...)

This congregation of mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants --whom we have the grace to serve as a "Covenant Church"-- will experience the joy of their first worship on, of all poignant moments, Christmas Eve.

And in the midst of these two disparate moments yesterday, Christmas came. It came because, through God's grace, I was reminded again that this is how Christmas always comes.

Christmas is about God's incarnate grace and love, given to the world. It's about remembering the grace and beauty of God's presence, which is, truthfully, always around, all the time.

Frederick Buechner calls incarnation: "untheological, unsophisticated, and undignified."

But, he goes on to say: "According to Christianity, it's the way things are..."

"All religions and philosophies which deny the reality or the significance of the material, the fleshly, the earthbound, are themselves denied.  Moses at the burning bush was told to take off his shoes because the ground on which he stood was holy ground (Exodus 3:5), and incarnation means that all ground is holy ground because God not only made it but walked on it, ate and slept and worked and died on it.  If we are saved anywhere, we are saved here.  And what is saved is not some diaphanous distillation of our bodies and our earth, but our bodies and our earth themselves."

And to all who doubt, or who are uncomfortable with such definitions of incarnation, Buechner politely reminds us: "One of the blunders religious people are particularly fond of making is the attempt to be more spiritual than God."

"Behold, bring you good tidings of a great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born, this day, in the City of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord."

Our friend, David Hayward, The Naked Pastor, has a cartoon this week that I love:

(David has another version, not G-rated, that I like even better. I'll let yall find it...)

And, yep, that's pretty much it. No "Important people there."

And THIS is where, the story of our faith tells us, God is born into the world. In the midst of grubby and grungy stable...in the midst of those the world might consider, "unimportant people."

Which is why I thought of Christ's Foundry yesterday. As I looked up at the rope to their new bell tower, I thought of our how world so often considers immigrants to be "unimportant people." But they are not unimportant to God.

It's also why I thought of the Rainbow Room...and those quiet folks....struggling with their life, day to day, on the streets of Dallas. For it was there I saw Christmas. Plain as day. Some might call them "unsophisticated" or "undignified." But if so, that's what incarnation is.

God come to earth, in the face of all those beautiful Rainbow Room friends. God as powerfully present in that moment as in our most heartfelt church prayers in any sanctuary.

And my message to you tonight is that it's likely to happen that way to you too. It's likely to happen in some ordinary time and place, when you are doing something that seems perhaps even relatively UNimportant or Undignified. It might even be something that seems disgraceful to imagine in the same breath with God...perhaps it's somethings that seems "earthy" and "messy."

Here's a clue to knowing when it happens. Remember that amazingly beautiful feeling you feel at Christmas Eve at church? In that moment, when we sing "Silent Night," light candles against the darkness, remember those feelings of love, peace, hope, and joy?

Well, sometimes in life, we feel that same feeling. Through the smile of a child, the embrace of a friend, an act of service to the world, the stunning beauty of nature, through some moment that connects us to to someone or something in this beautiful world of ours.

Those moments are what incarnation is. And when they happen, they're likely to feel like that moment when you light Christmas candles and sing "Silent Night." So, look for that.

And realize, it might not happen on Christmas Day. (It might...) It might not happen the whole Christmas season. (It might...)

But be ready for it to break in at some unexpected time, when you're hanging out with "unimportant people."

It might even be heralded by some cross-dressing angel named Gabriel.

And if that seems "untheological...unsophisticated....undignified?"

It may only mean that it's a true Christmas moment, worthy of the Messiah who lived among us as "Word made flesh."

(As always, if you like this post, then "share it" or "like" it on Facebook by clicking the box below, so others can see too...)

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Eric Folkerth's Christmas EP

Hey Friends: Hope you're having a great holiday season.

I've taken the liberty of collecting all my Christmas songs together in once place.

You can hear them all, by starting the player below.

Then, at bottom, I've got a little info about each song for you.
 Hope you like them, and hope you're having a blessed holiday....EF







About the Songs: 

Christmastime Is Here
The classic Vince Guaraldi song from "A Charlie Brown Christmas." I just thought it would be fun to learn it on guitar.

Come Home
This great song was written by my good friend, Bill Nash. I think it's one of my personal favorite Christmas songs, and just captures the essence of the season. I'm pleased that he let me record it a few years back.

Midnight Clear Mashup
One of the things that deeply depresses me is just how often we seem to be at war during Christmas. As if the season of Peace has now sway at all. So, this is my own version of the classic hymn, "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear." If you really listen to the lyrics of this song, you find it's a powerful song of peace. (Especially verse two). Every modern President is juxtaposed with the hymn of peace. Finally,  I like the idea of Linus speaking "truth to power" in the form on this story of peace. We should find his boldness, it seems to me.

The Martyr of Black Friday
A song I wrote about the death of Jdimytai Damour, on Black Friday in 2008. Possibly the most depressingly themed Christmas song ever. Learn more of his story here.

Christmas Snow
Two years ago, it snowed on Christmas Eve. One of my most amazing moments in recent years was being in church at 11 pm, as everyone held up  candles and sang "Silent Night." And I had the privilege of  being able to look out beyond the candlelight, and see  falling snow, silhouetted by the street lights. That image stays with me, as one of the most incredible visuals I've ever seen, and helped inspire this song.

Not So Silent Night Hometown
Possibly the second-most depressingly themed Christmas song in history. ;)
This story was inspired by the story of Travis Butler, a young boy who, during the holidays, kept going to school after his mother died in their apartment, because he was so afraid of "disappearing" in the foster system.
That desperation, around the holidays, spoke to me, when juxtaposed to the Christmas story of incarnational love.

In the Bleak Midwinter
The classic hymn by Christina Rossetti. I love the stark imagery in this song...not only of winter...but also of incarnation itself...of a mother's love and how that too is a part of incarnation.

(As always, if you like this post, then "share it" or "like" it on Facebook by clicking the box below, so others can see too...)

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Midnight Clear Mashup

A new recording of a classic Christmas song for you.

But, probably not in a way you've ever heard it before.
Stay with it. Give it a listen all the way through.

I really like the way this came out. Hope you do too.




It came upon a midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,
From heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!

For lo!, the days are hastening on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
by Edmund H. Sears 1849


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In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter,

frosty wind made moan,


Earth stood hard as iron,

water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on

snow, snow on snow,


In the bleak midwinter,

long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him,

nor earth sustain;


Heaven and earth shall flee away

when He comes to reign.


In the bleak midwinter

a stable place sufficed


The Lord God Almighty,

Jesus Christ

Enough for Him, whom cherubim,

worship night and day,


Breastful of milk,

and a mangerful of hay;

Enough for Him, whom angels

fall before,


The ox and ass and camel

which adore.

Angels and archangels

may have gathered there,

Cherubim and seraphim

thronged the air;


But His mother only,

in her maiden bliss,


Worshipped the beloved

with a kiss.

What can I give Him,

poor as I am?


If I were a shepherd,

I would bring a lamb;


If I were a Wise Man,

I would do my part;


Yet what I can I give Him:

give my heart.

-- Christina Rossetti

(Place: Kiowa Creek, February 11, 2011)

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Because Reposting This Every Year is a Sacred Obligation.

Trust me.

It just is.

See?

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Test Entry

Please ignore

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500

According to Blogger, this is my 500th blog entry.

That's a whompin' load 'o writing, seems to me. Hard to imagine it, really.

I started this blog using some software that no longer exists and whose name I can no longer recall. Then, I moved it to Rapidweaver, when I re-did my whole website, using the same. But Rapidweaver has mostly crashed and burned on me. And so, a few years back, I switched over to Blogger. It was, frankly, a heck of a lot of work to transfer everything over. But I'm glad to have the archive now.

Facebook definitely cut in to blog readership. Back in "B.F.E" (Before the Facebook Era) I had several entries that got into the multiple-thousands-of-hits.

The most-read entry of all-time was this one, after the Dallas Mavericks heartbreaking loss in the 2006 NBA Playoffs. The pre-Blogger entry was read something like 25,000 times, or something ridiculous like that. Two of the radio shows on The Ticket mentioned it. It was reposted at several nations sports blogs. And it led to the creation of my sport-blog nickname: "The Bitter P1"

If you'd ask to to guess what my most-read blog would be, I never in a million years would have guessed that one. Go figure.

The second most read entry of all time was this one, about my song, "Prairie Chapel Road," and my trips to Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas. I was fortunate enough to have something like 7,000 people stop by to read my thoughts about the experience. 3,000-plus folks downloaded my song, in those weeks of August, 2005. You can still find it at the link.

Like I said, there's been a dramatically stark decline in blog readership, since the advent of Facebook. The only other blog to crack 1,000 hits since Facebook was one I wrote just last week, ironically. Every other blog in the list that follows is below 1,000 hits, though many not by much. Here's the rest of the top reads, in order:

The Martyr of Black Friday

Please Do Not Listen to Pat Robertson

The Word and Our Words

Spiritual Reflections on "Occupy Wall Street"

The Parable of the Talent Explained

Almost all of these are less than a year old. Which seems strange to me...like there was some kind of lull in there. (Maybe people are reading blogs again? Or, perhaps Blogger has a really crappy archive-stats feature?)

Anyway, there you have it. Although it was a TON of work to "port" everything over to Blogger, now and then I gaze jealously over at WordPress blogs and think, "they always have more comments..."

Its that true? (That's how it seems...)

Anyway, five hundred entries is perhaps also a good time to remind you that the blog has several major categories (and a ton of minor "tags").

With multiple categories, and five hundred entries to choose from, there's a lot to read if you're so inclined. Learn about the categories here.

Thanks so much to anybody who ever stops by, even if just once.

Thanks to all who take the time to leae a comment or share on Facebook. I'm always deeply grateful to find that some of these thoughts actually help folks.

The writing almost always helps me. So, I'd probably keep doing that, even if nobody ever read it.

But I'm glad some yall do. Read, that is.

Thanks again....EF

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Winter SolstiCelebration

I'm really honored to be a part of the annual "Winter SolstiCelebration" this year, as one of the many talented performers. It's one of the largest celebrations of solstice anywhere.

The theme for this year's event is "Our Human Journey," and for the first time ever, it will be presented on two nights:

Friday, December 16 and Saturday December 17th
Doors open at 6 pm. Event begins at 7 pm

Cathedral of Hope Sanctuary
5910 Cedar Springs at Inwood,
Dallas, Texas 75219
Click here for ticket information.

I hope many of my friends will be interested in attending. I have been for several years, and have always found it a very moving and inspiring event.

Specifically, two of my songs, "Thanks," and "I Will Sing" will be a part of the music for the night. This is a huge honor, and I'm thrilled to be a part. Just take a look at some of the incredible performers who will be a part of this night.

Our friend, Amy Martin is the passion and vision behind this event, but literally dozens of people take part to bring this event together.

Here's some of what the Earth Rythyms' website says about this year's event:

"Can we guide our evolving humanity?

What are our choices for the future?

Are we doomed to endless war, social injustice and environmental degradation?

Or, is it our epic destiny to live in peace with prosperity for all?

Join the journey to the
future we choose
at Winter SolstiCelebration."

"Not a service, not a show, but something much more, this two-hour event blends a wide spectrum of performing arts, participatory movement and ceremony to guide the audience in an archetypal discovery of our human destiny."

"Dramatic monologues from an Everyman and Everywoman reveal the personal struggles we undertake to make peace with ourselves and our species. The qualities that mankind must master to evolve into a brighter future are brought to life via commentary on the proceedings by a clever but crotchety comedic couple. Both are woven with music, dance, theater, poetry, and even magic and circus arts."

"The core of Winter SolstiCelebration is a passage through three minutes of silent meditation in total darkness, evoking the three-day Winter Solstice period, followed by a dramatic and participatory return of the light. The event concludes with an exuberant dance of attendees through ceremonial gates. A Yule Fest with refreshments follows."

Many deeply spiritual, creative, and thoughtful people come together to make this event a reality. Many many thanks to Amy for inviting me to be a part.

As a reminder, here are my two songs that will be a part...

"Thanks" will be sort of in the middle of the show....




And "I Will Sing" is scheduled to be one of the ways the show comes to an energy climax:


I'm so excited about this.

More later...EF

Update 12/14/11)
Well, the event is now just days away. And it's gonna be amazing. We had a dress rehearsal for the show last night, and it's just lovely. What an honor to be singing with some many talented singers....Lainey Bernstein, Rahim Quazi, Robin Hackett, David Roseblad, Kerri Arrista, Matt Willis, and Andrew Tinker. And, of course, my old friend Cornell Kinderknecht, as co-musical director with Lainey.

Lots of these folks will be joining me on "Thanks" and "I Will Sing."
As a guy who usually performs solo, it's so amazing to hear the backing on this stuff. And the rest of the show is just as amazing. You won't want to miss.

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The Bottom Line is Still the Bottom Line

More on the death of Jmimytai Damour. Actually, this time some disgusting info about Walmart.

(If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here, here, or here...)


In doing some Googling, I discovered a pitiful CODA to this story. Since the death of Jdimyta three years ago, apparently Walmart has been vigorously contesting a measly $7,000 fine from OSHA.

First reported in the New York Times, many observers have been baffled: Why has Walmart spent upwards of $2 MILLION to fight a $7,000 fine?

The answer seems to be: precedent.

Walmart appears to believe that agreeing to the fine will bind them to legal precedent and perhaps bigger fines, should there be additional incidents in the future.

The bottom line seems to still be the bottom line, and not concern for people.

How pitiful.

(As always, if you like this post, then "share it" or "like" it on Facebook by clicking the box below, so others can see too...) 

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New Song -- The Martyr of Black Friday

Today on Facebook, I told everyone I was done with Black Friday and that I was moving on.

Clearly, I am a liar.

A brand new song, about the story that obviously won't let me go, "The Martyr of Black Friday."
Hope you like it.




(Note: I've replaced the YouTube with a quick-and-dirty audio demo that better represents the song. Click the triangle, and wait for the file to load...EF)

The Martyr of Black Friday
Two thousand souls out in the cold
With the turkey on their breath
Thankful but still wanting more
On a night of life and death.

The big man working for the store
Was from a tiny Haitian town
Nobody saw him on the floor
After he went down.

Jdimytai, Jdimytai
I think of you, I still cry
They sold their souls so they could buy
And no one stopped to wonder why,
Jdimytai.

Two thousand years since Mary sang
Her revolution song
Where: "The poor are lifted from their pain."
"The rich are all but gone."

But here and now the poor still find
They're often out of luck
So they push it in those long, long lines
Just to save a buck.

Jdimytai, Jdimytai
I think of you, I still cry
They sell their souls so they can buy
And no one stops to wonder why,
Jdimytai.

The Martyr of Black Friday
Sacrificed for all our sins
For Flatscreens and for Blu-rays
And toys stacked up in bins.

And all to mark a birthday
Where there was no room or inn
When they laid him in the soft hay
And shepherds had no gifts to lend.

Jdimytai, Jdimytai
I think of you, I still cry
We sell our souls so we can buy
And we never stop to wonder why,
Jdimytai.
Jdimytai.
Jdimytai.
Words and Music by Eric Folkerth ©2011. All Rights Reserved.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

OK. So, maybe now I'm done with this story?
I told this to The Judge a moment ago, and she replied, "Maybe the story's not done with you."

Damn.

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The Advent Conspiracy

Black Friday is over. So, what now what?
For those who want to re-connect Christmas with its real meaning, what now?

These guys always have a good idea.



[AC] Promo 2011 from Advent Conspiracy on Vimeo.

Help them spread the word:
Their website
Their Facebook .
Their Twitter.

Even if you don't get involved in their specific project, get involved in the idea.


It just might save your Christmas (and some actual lives too).


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Video from last night's Black Friday

If you want to see just how disturbing "Black Friday" is becoming, zip on over to YouTube, and search it. Just search "Black Friday 2011," and you'll find plenty of footage from just last night.

For example, here are people almost being crushed last night at a Walmart not far from here, over in Mesquite:

Then, there's this one from Fresno, CA:

There are plenty more where these came from. And it's a part of the reason I wrote this, and this.

Thank God that apparently nobody was actually crushed last night. Although a woman in California apparently maced some fellow shoppers, and another man was shot. Read it here.

I can't read/watch any of this without a sick feeling in my stomach about Jdmytai Damour, and his death...and how little we've learned.

Update: a song I've here about all this: here.

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Is It Classist or Pharisaical to Oppose Black Friday?

For the second year in a row, my blog, "The Martyr of Black Friday," is getting lots of attention. In fact, as of today, it officially becomes the third most-read blog I've ever written. I'm grateful that so many are resonating with the message that something must "give" regarding our consumerist society and the bastardization of Christmas.

However, this year, I've also gotten some "critique of my critique." So, I'd like to address some of that here, by answering this question:

Is It Classist or Pharisaical to Oppose Black Friday?

My bottom line: No.

First off, before all this, some clarification: I am not anti-capitalist, anti-free market, anti-retail, etc, etc etc. Perhaps some who wish us to boycott Black Friday are. Not me. I'm all for making money, and all for the way our system works, in theory. Now, on the question…

The gist of the "classist" critique is that Black Friday basically allows working people the chance to buy consumer goods they might not often be able to. Studies apparently show that people from the upper-classes are far more critical of Black Friday than people from working class. (I have not seen these studies, but this was suggested to me today…)

The gist of the "pharisaical" critique is that "Buy Nothing Day" (BND), the alternative to "Black Friday," is only promoted by those who have the resources to avoid shopping today. Only the sufficiently wealthy can afford to support "BND," and they do so to make themselves feel self-righteously better than those who shop today. (Something like: "Lord, I thank thee that I am not like all those other blind consumers…")

The place I have seen this critique most eloquently explained is in a blog by Eugene Cho, written a couple of years ago, but reposted yesterday.

The punchline of his thoughtful blog is this:

"Black Friday shopping means different things for different folks. For many of us, it’s a game, a sport and an event we mark but for others, it’s a matter of necessity."

He says his view of Black Friday changed when he listened to African-American friends who told him this:

"Buy Nothing Day is basically a thing of and for White folks and comfy Middle Class folks like you, Eugene, who have had the privilege of consumption their whole life.  And now, they can afford to start things like Buy Nothing Day…Stuff like this sickens me because it has such little idea about the plight of minorities and low income folks that are trying to survive."

Cho said he realized that, for his friend, and his friend's extended family, Black Friday has become economic necessity:

"The thing that got to me was the story he shared about some of his family and friends who simply NEED to make many of their major purchases on that day.  Specifically, he shared about his uncle and aunt from the Midwest.  They get in line every year in the frigid cold here hours before the retail store opens at 5 or 6 am because it’s the only way they’re able to get their kids the necessary tech gear to keep up."

This is powerful critique, and important to hear. (btw, Cho's blog and church sound amazing, and I feel a bit guilty for critiquing somebody with such obvious commitment to his faith and social justice...)

My own view, however, is that this kind of critique is still incomplete.

Yes, if critiquing Black Friday and supporting "BND," are JUST about our own personal consumption and gluttony, then I could see how this critique is on the mark. But it's not. At least, it's not for me. Opposing Black Friday goes far deeper. I personally believe there are very good reasons to still oppose Black Friday.
And deeper questions still to ask…

Another progressive friend asked it this way, much the same as Cho's friend: "Don't the working classes deserve a break too?"

So, here's my answer to it all…

Yes! Absolutely, they do! The working class and poor, both shoppers and retail workers, deserve more than a break! They deserve more than just one day where they can buy a $2,000 television for $400.

Here is what working people really deserve:
 
∞ They deserve fair pay so they can make ends meet, not just one day of Black Friday sales.

∞ They deserve fair working hours, not just Black Friday's crazy retail hours.

∞ They deserve time off, to enjoy the holidays, instead of believing they must shop today or be economically left out.

∞ They deserve time off, to enjoy the holidays, instead of believing they must work today, or else fail to make ends meet or lose their job.

You see, Black Friday re-enforces a currently sick system. It says to everyone: The only "break" the working poor deserve is a few bucks off a toaster, not a few hours off with family; one-day of crazy specials, rather than a year's worth of decent wages.

And, those who work today, let us remind ourselves, also deserve to not get crushed while working at Walmart.

Yes, I get that the economy is bad, that times are tough, and that everybody is struggling to make ends meet. Which is precisely why Opposing Black Friday is not only not classist, but supports the working classes; both retail workers and consumers.

Black Friday is not some day to rejoice at how "the last get to be first."

Black Friday, in fact, insures that the last are still last! Shoppers get their deals, then go home, believing that's all they deserve or could ever dare ask for. They're still among the "last." Nothing else has changed. Now, they just have a shiny new television set.

Is that real change? Is that the kind change Mary was talking about when she sang: "God has filled he hungry with good things. And the rich, God has sent empty away?"

No. I don't think so. Mary was talking about social change far deeper and far more lasting than a one-day deal on a television set.

Finally, let us remember that the economically poor, like the wealthy, don't shop on Black Friday either. They can't afford the $400 television set, even if it is marked down. Let's not forget this. Statistics show that, right now in America, a staggering 30 percent of persons are either IN poverty, or hover right around the poverty line.

Some will not only not shop today, they won't shop any time during this holiday season. If they are lucky, they'll do a little shopping at a thrift store sometime this month. Or perhaps just do without presents altogether this year.

My wife reminded me of this today, with a story from her own life(1)...

It was the week after her first Christmas at SMU, and she was back in class. She was still living at home at the time, commuting to school each day. She was paying for her own tuition, and she was working four jobs to pay for her undergraduate degree. As it happens, this particular Christmas her father had suffered a heart attack, and couldn't work. They had $60 in their checking account.

As such, there were no presents that year. The family's only "Christmas presents" came in the form of a box of food, given to them by some local charity (Knights of Columbus? Shriners? She no longer remembers…)

After Christmas the first week back at SMU, one of her teachers invited everyone to go around the room and share what their favorite Christmas present was. And so, people ticked them off…a new computer…new clothes…a trip to Mexico…a new car…etc, etc…

When they came to Dennise, she was too embarrassed to say "all we got for Christmas was a box of food." So, she made something up. She told everybody that their family had gotten a new kitten.

She's obviously come a long way since then. But it's a painful memory even now.

Let us remember that the true economic poor will not even be shopping today, and can't take advantage of "Black Friday" if they wanted to.

Let us remember that many people are struggling, heroically, to make ends meet in this economy, and that they deserve better than one-day sales that they have to stand in line for hours, just to access.

Finally, let us remember that all this --the frenzied sales and store hours-- is being done in Jesus' name, or at least in support of a holiday named for him. Yet another reason why people of faith must insure the world understands that this is not the "Christmas" we celebrate; lest the world believes God condones this messed up system too.

Here's my bottom line: If you think condemning Black Friday is JUST a pharisaical way to "feel good" and "superior" in your personal blow against consumerism, then by all means, don't do it. But if you see it as a way to inact God's justice for those who get far too little then, dear God in heaven,  join the cause.

Because we are a long, long way from the kind of world Mary sang about in the "Magnificat," where the poor and the outcast really do get a fair shake, and where the last are first for more than just one shopping day.
(1) And I thank her, and love her, for the courage she shows in allowing me to share this story with you...

Update: a brand new song I've written about all of this, find it here.

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Remembering Jdimtyai Damour

This is Jdimitai Damour. I am remembering him again this year, on Black Friday, as I have every year for the past several. If you are curious as to why, you can read about it here.

It's just been a few years since his death, at a Walmart store in New York, and even in that short time it seems Black Friday has gotten even more insane. For example, tonight I read where many stores didn't open at midnight...they opened at 10 pm.

A church member just posted that as he was driving back from Fort Worth tonight, every single Walmart and Target store parking lot was filled.

Let's be clear: there is nothing about Black Friday even remotely connected to the real meaning of Christmas.  Not even in the slightest.

Let's be also clear: to stand against the orgy of Black Friday is not to stand against the interests of working people. It's to stand FOR them. It's to stand up for better working conditions, reasonable working hours, and, by God, decent wages...so that one day folks like Jdimitai might not feel caught in a forced-choice between not making ends meet and working on Black Friday.

He still is, to my mind, still the Martyr of Black Friday. And his death, literally and figuratively, teaches volumes about what is wrong with this country.

We have not only not learned a thing by his death. Instead, year after year, we march on in an orgy of consumerism that, by its very nature, can never be sated.

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Happy Thanksgiving

I keep mixing and remixing.
Here's another version of "Thanks," just in time for tomorrow.
I think it's the best yet.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody...EF


(It may take the file a minute to load...)

"If the only prayer

You ever prayed

In your entire life

was "Thank You,"

It would be enough."

-- Meister Eckhart

THANKS

For mountains green with aspen stands,

fluttering like waving hands,

for broad lands,

I will give thanks.

For ember orange sunset glow,

purple skies burning low,

the days go,

and I will give thanks.

For silver incandescent moons,

every midnight howl and swoon,

real soon,

I will give thanks.

For each moment here, for each memory clear

For each day I wake, for each breath I take

For each pain I bear, for each love I share....

Thanks.

For berry's taste and coffee's smell

rituals we learn so well

that foretell

that I will give thanks.

For lovers touch and wounds that heal

friends who laugh and think and feel

when it's real

I will give thanks.

For loving those the world rejects

the poor and holy heretics

it connects

that I will give thanks.

For each moment here, for each memory clear

For each day I wake, for each breath I take

For each pain I bear, for each love I share....

Thanks.

And is it really all that tough to believe one word could say enough?

For every blocked and crooked path

for every door that closed to fast

for the past

I will give thanks.

For every chance yet to forgive

and every second yet to live

that life gives

I will give thanks.

For times when death comes like a friend

and trusting life can never end

it's well then that

I will give thanks.

For each moment here, for each memory clear

For each day I wake, for each breath I take

For each pain I bear, for each love I share....

Thanks.

words and music, Eric Folkerth © 2011. All Rights Reserved.

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