clear river

As my past continues to disappear...

Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi dies

On January 28th, Jim Capaldi  passed away from stomach cancer at the age of 60.  For most of you who read this, you won't have a clue who the guy is. (Except for Earnest...) You wouldn't know that he was one of the founding members of the band Traffic, played drums as part of Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert Band, or did plenty of session work for two other major players from the Traffic era; Steve Winwood and Dave Mason, not to mention work on album called "On the Road to Freedom" with guitar wizard Alvin Lee and the soon to be born again Mylon LeFever.  What came to mind when I read of his passing was an album released in 1971 called "Welcome to the Canteen."  I was never a major Traffic fan. I did follow what Dave Mason and Steve Winwood did but you won't find old traffic stuff in my collection and it wasn't one of their tunes that I remember from the Canteen album. It was actually a track by The Spencer Davis Group  (which Steve Winwood was in) called "Gimme Good Lovin" that has stayed with me. The version on "Welcome to the Canteen" was a nine minute jam of feel good rock and roll fusion that makes my foot start tapping every time I hear it. I was a 9th grader then and it's just one of the songs that stuck - that became part of the soundtrack of my life.  There is a sample here:  Download gimmiegoodlovin.mp3

"Well I'm so glad you made it, so glad you made it, you gotta gimme some lovin...

I don't know if Jim heard any angels singing that. Maybe not.  It's the sad thing about people dying who gave you some joy. You don't know where they were spiritually. Johnny Carson was a member of the Skeptics Society, George Harrison was into Krishna,  and so on.  How do you remember the joy and appreciate the work when the question of eternity hangs over the moment?  I don't know. God - gimme good lovin - and help me to give it away.

Rolling Stone Accepts Bible Ad

Interesting news! Rolling Stone does an about face.

Link: Church Marketing Sucks.

"Zondervan's TNIV Bible adAfter tons of media attention Rolling Stone has reversed their decision and agreed to run the Zondervan Bible ad they originally rejected. It doesn't always work out this nicely, but the media frenzy gave Zondervan much more publicity than they would have received with the ad alone.

It's also worth noting how Zondervan reacted from a public relations perspective. While they did express disapointment at the original decision from Rolling Stone and explained the facts of the story, the seem to have avoided making accusations or turning the issue into some sort of culture war. They let columnists pick at the absurdity of the Rolling Stone decision and stuck to the facts.

The PR lesson? Always take the high road. It's doubtful Rolling Stone would have agreed to run the ad in the end if Zondervan had responded with vehement accusations and finger pointing. Zondervan didn't lie down and take it either, but they managed to let the facts speak for themselves. In the end it's been a win-win situation for Zondervan, thanks to wise PR."

From inside Iraq...

The people have won..

I walked forward to my station, cast my vote and then headed to the box, where I wanted to stand as long as I could, then I moved to mark my finger with ink, I dipped it deep as if I was poking the eyes of all the world's tyrants.
I put the paper in the box and with it, there were tears that I couldn't hold; I was trembling with joy and I felt like I wanted to hug the box but the supervisor smiled at me and said "brother, would you please move ahead, the people are waiting for their turn".

Yes brothers, proceed and fill the box!
These are stories that will be written on the brightest pages of history.

Iraqis Express Pride & Hope

Look, I don't care where you came down on the war in Iraq, you can't look at the pictures of these people, in the face of threatend execution, lining up to vote, without tearing up.

Iraqis Express Pride & Hope.

"This is democracy," the elderly woman said proudly, holding up a thumb stained with the purple ink used to mark those who had voted. "This is the first day I feel freedom."

Tattered and looking for home.

"I know all about the despair of overcoming chronic temptations. It is not serious, provided self-offended petulance, annoyance at breaking records, impatience etc. don't get the upper hand. No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one's temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us: it is the very sign of His presence." - C.S. Lewis

Spiritual Gifts, Maturity, and Laziness

Tim Colson has a good rant on his blog.
I have some of the same questions about the gifts and how they are used...

 

Spiritual Gifts, Maturity, and Laziness
Eric and I were having an interesting conversation about church this evening. We were talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how the operation of the gifts might look at church. I'm having a really hard time envisioning the gifts being used genuinely and in Christian love. The bottom line is that there aren't many people in the church who are eagerly desiring spiritual gifts, and if we are, we are usually more concerned about the manifestations themselves rather than the way in which they might be used to encourage or convert someone...  (Keep reading)

Haunts Of Ancient Peace

Haunts Of Ancient Peace

by Van Morrison

Beside the garden walls,
We walk in haunts of ancient peace.
At night we rest and go to sleep
In haunts of ancient peace.
The love and light we seek,
The words we do not need to speak,
Here in this wondrous way we keep
These haunts of ancient peace.
Let us go there again
When we need some relief
Oh, when I can't find my feet
When I need rest and sleep.
The Sunday bells they chime
Around the countryside and towns
A song of harmony and rhyme
In haunts of ancient peace.
The holy grail we seek
On down by haunts of ancient peace.
We see the new Jerusalem
In haunts of ancient peace.
Oh, when I can't find my feet
Oh, when I need some relief
One more time again.
You know I want to go there one more time again.
Be still in haunts of ancient peace.
Be still.

This comes from a little known Van Morrison  release back in  1980 called Common One. 
I've just been listening to it for the first time. What a remarkable piece of work. It's not an easy listen. 
Two of the tunes take up a full 30 minutes of the CD, but the sense of longing and searching that 
permeates the collection is just hypnotic.  

Oscar's Two Faces

This is interesting... 16 years ago Martin Scorsese released a movie that many in the Protestant/Catholic mainstream found to be a blasphemous depiction of Jesus Christ.  The Last Temptation of Christ cratered at the box office earning only 8 million dollars domestically. Nevertheless  the Academy jumped to nominate Scorsese as Best Director. This year the Academy overlooked Mel Gibson for the same honor.  Regardless of ones feelings about faith, to argue that The Passion of the Christ was not a directorial triumph simply makes no sense.  (Not to mention that it earned over 350 million domestically and won the People's Choice Award for Best Drama Picture !) So what's up Oscar?

Where's that religious fanatic we elected?

Ann Coulter comes out swinging with a strong take on the abortion issue.

Book Review - The Broker by John Grisham

Just finished John Grisham's new novel The Broker and thought I'd share some comments. I have read most all of Grisham’s work ever since The Firm was released in 1991. Grisham hooked me right away because he simply told good suspenseful stories. The characters were well developed, the plots were interesting and the action moved along at a good clip.  I loved the sense of tension he brought to the writing.  16 books later comes The Broker and my hopes were high for a couple of reasons. First, he was jumping out of the courtroom into the shadowy world of the CIA and, it turns out, every other organized intelligence group the world has to offer. Second, the plot summary looked intriguing and promised the possibility of some bona fide suspense.  Beyond that, the cover featured a guy on the run. That's always a good sign. Okay, not the most intelligent way of discerning possibility in a novel but it worked on me. As the saying goes, you can't tell a book by its cover.  The main character here is Joel Bachman, a driven, high rolling, power hungry, 10 million a year lawyer who knows how to get things done in Washington D.C.  Problem is, Joel has made some mistakes and some enemies.  When he gets in hot water, he opts for prison instead of being handed his head by some of his enemies. The CIA wants to know - how did Joel get his hands on software that accesses the most powerful satellite system ever launched and, since the U.S. didn't deploy the system, who did? They decide to release Joel from prison via a presidential pardon, stick him somewhere in Europe, leak the news of where he is and then watch as clandestine operatives from Israel, Russia, China and Saudi Arabia all compete to kill him first. They figure whoever gets to him, is responsible for the system. It's shaky, I know, but it works. The story sets up great and then, alas, becomes a travelogue for Italy rather than the suspenseful chase it could have been. The reviewer for Amazon said: "The Broker marries the best of John Grisham's many talents--his ability to immerse himself in the culture of small town life (in this case, Bologna, Italy), and his uncanny mastery of the chase." She goes on to call it a "fast paced, thrilling, cat and mouse chase." Uh, no. Thrill is not the operative word here.  Yes, the story is interesting and Grisham does make you feel you've been to Italy. He does it with lovely passages of information and you get to learn a LOT of the language. This is all fine and well if you want to know a lot about Italy, but the thrilling chase just never emerges. There is one but it never really gains steam and peters out to nothing at the end. I was disappointed, not because it wasn't a mildly entertaining read, it was,  but because it had the potential to really deliver and just never got off the ground in the same way a Pelican Brief or Runaway Jury did.  It could be that this work and the even more disappointing King of Torts reveal a Grisham who's enjoying  the research (He spent time in Italy) more than the storytelling.