May 21, 2012

On Charity

1 Corinthians 13

Paul discusses the high status of charity—Charity, a pure love, excels and exceeds almost all else.

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6 Rejoiceth not in inequity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Filed under Charity Faith Love Corinthians Bible Forgiveness

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May 9, 2012

‘Blunderbuss’ Presents Jack White, Reinvented

– May 9, 2012

With the White Stripes’ debut in 1999, we were introduced to a man whose enigma was as loaded as his talent. As the epidemic of heartbreak persisted, unchecked by those at the helm of modern rock, it seemed that, more than ever, we needed someone who was as wardrobe-savvy as he was unflinchingly honest about how much love sucks.

For those who don’t know this already, Jack White’s a really hard button to button (It was too easy). With six albums under their belt, the Stripes continued to be lauded for deftly meshing persona with their no-holds-barred productions, which alternated between the acoustically simplistic, a la “I Think We’re Going to Be Friends,” to the guitar slaying “Ball and Biscuit.”

But White caught on that somehow their discography did little to give the duo more dimension than the pixelated Lego characters they once embodied in their first music video: cue The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather and a brow-raising documentary which had him sharing the stage with The Edge and Jimmy Page.

For many Jack White fans, Blunderbuss is a long-awaited portal into the mind of a reticent rock god. The past year hasn’t been all too kind to him—the Stripes are no more and he and supermodel wife Kate Elson saw the end of their six-year marriage—but the drama appears to have done him a huge favor in the demystification department.

“She don’t care what kind of wounds / She’s inflicting on me / She don’t care what color bruises that / She’s leaving on me / She’s got freedom in the 21st century,” White sings in “Freedom at 21,” a sardonic ode to his sister-turned-wife-turned-band mate, or Elson, or perhaps just every woman who has ever broken his heart. Whoever this femme fatale is, she’s the cause of his identity crisis, and as such, White masochistically dedicates every song on the album to her.

On the Road with Everest

–May 8, 2012

Photo by Michael Morgenstern

By Charissa Che

“So, you want to write about music, huh,” said Eli Thomson as he took a long draw from his cigarette. “Let me give you some advice.”

And suddenly I was William Miller in a scene plucked straight from Almost Famous. What’s weird is that the Everest bassist actually looked like Lester Bangs from the film. When I pointed this out, he laughed it off as if he’d heard it before and then returned his tinted stare towards City Hall Park.

“Don’t ever ask a band who their musical influences are. For one thing, we’re asked that everywhere we go; be more original. And it’s a stupid question. If you asked me what my influences were, I’d say, ‘Everything I’ve listened to, ever.’”

The Los Angeles rockers had just finished performing a brief set at J&R for Record Store Day and were loading their gear into their black touring van to, as lead singer/guitarist Russ Pollard put it, get their “foodage” on. It was barely past noon and since most of the store’s patrons seemed primarily interested in the turntable giveaway downstairs, it seemed that their performance’s turnout probably could have been better.

Despite this, and already having two studio albums under their belt with a third one on the way, the band seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief that they’d gotten it over with: “That was pretty cool,” said Pollard to his mates as he handled a drum set. “Intimidating, but cool.”

The band had performed highlights from their debut LP Ghost Notes, which was released in 2008 under Neil Young’s Vapor Records, and from their sophomore effort, On Approach.

So you might not get a convenient listing of what helped shape Everest’s sound from Thomson, and maybe that’s best, seeing as how difficult it would be to categorize them as well. Their songs alternate from soaring classic rock to funk that’s sure to get you dancing to soul-tugging folk ballads perfect for drinking the night away.

Further confusion may come from learning that they’ve toured with Neil Young—and fellow openers Death Cab for Cutie and Wilco. But go along with the ride, and you might actually come to appreciate that Everest doesn’t want to make music easy,because life isn’t easy.

“If you think about it, the human experience is a cliché,” said Thomson. “We all live it; encounter the same things, but that’s where it ends. The individual experience is your encounter with the world.”

Music Lovers Get Hyped for a Rare Feast on Record Store Day

–April 20, 2012

Indie audiophiles all over the nation are getting ready to get their groove on this weekend with their version of an early Christmas. Taking place on every third Saturday in April, this year’s fifth annual Record Store Day is the one day each year that all independently-owned record stores and artists worldwide join forces to celebrate the art of music.

As the locale for many of today’s musicians’ homes—not to mention our most well-known concert venues—New York City is widely considered the go-to arts’ hub in the country. True to form, music aficionados are pulling out all the stops to treat store patrons with special releases and promotional products. Artists both well-known and underground will stop by to give private, intimate concerts, amid aisles of vinyls and compact discs: items that today have become to many mere novelty items. Also not to be missed are cook-outs, body painting and parades.

International Record Store Day was conceived by Chris Brown and was founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner. Metallica officially kicked it off at Rasputin Music in San Francisco on April 19, 2008. The day is currently managed by Michael Kurtz and Carrie Colliton. Kurtz says that this may be “the biggest music event in the world.”

“A Record Store Day participating store is defined as a stand-alone brick and mortar retailer whose main primary business focuses on a physical store location…whose company is not publicly traded and whose ownership is at least 70% located in the state of operation. (In other words, we’re dealing with real, live, physical, indie record stores—not online retailers or corporate behemoths),” explains the organization’s official site.

This year’s ambassador of the event is punk rock veteran Iggy Pop, who at 64, is still considered one of the most inspiring and innovative modern-day artists (it also just so happens that April 21 is also his birthday).

“As Record Store Day Ambassador for 2012 I feel like a representative from some exotic jungle full of life and death and sex and anger, called upon to wear a leopard skin and translate joy to the world of the dead,” commented the Stooges frontman on his new role.

Drawing from his own experience, he stressed the importance of fostering personal engagement between the public and small music businesses in order to enrich the American culture. “I got my name, my musical education and my personality all from working at a record store during my tender years. Small indie shops have always been a mix of theatre and laboratory.”

New York City record stores will generally open shop at 11AM to start things off.