SmallTall Musings

moving to new blog, new website

2010-09-16T11:50:00.002-04:00

These "SmallTall Musings" are moving... the new blog is incorporated into the new-look SmallTall Music website.

I've opted not to import posts from this blog (which I've been writing since 2006... hard to believe...) into the new one, but this blogspot site will remain right here (I trust) for archival purposes (I refer to and link to the writing here periodically).

The musings and miscellaneous meanderings will continue... but not here. Hope to see you and hear from you at the new site!

of manna and quails (a jolly good fallow)

2010-08-17T10:05:00.004-04:00

A few months ago, in the midst of a difficult and anxious time, I blogged about feeling "unproductive," and sensing a need for some kind of "sabbatical" - some kind of "fallow" time. Coming to the end of a period of 7 years where my "SmallTall Music" ministry has been my full-time (or, as I like to put it, "flexible full-time") employment, I had the sense that perhaps some kind of "sabbatical" time was overdue. I found myself anxious, particularly anxious about finances, and this sense of anxiety was beginning to impact me and my family in other ways as well.

Well, I didn't do anything particularly dramatic. I didn't take an extended "sabbatical" time and travel anywhere, or take a break from work, or make plans for any kind of ambitious "sabbatical" agenda (is "ambitious sabbatical agenda" a contradiction in terms?).

But I did consciously choose to make a few changes. And I can tell you that I'm at a "different place" now than I was a few months ago. And I do think those things are - at least in part - related.

First of all, I decided not to push so hard. Economic anxieties had me pushing and pushing and pushing, looking for gigs, planning tours, working hard to make contacts and "get out there" and sing my songs. Now don't get me wrong - working hard is not a bad thing. I believe I am called, in fact, to work hard at this ministry. But I began to wonder if my "pushing" had to do with a desire to engage in meaningful and effective ministry ("building up the body of Christ by creating and sharing songs of faith for small and tall"), or if it had more to do with anxiety about paying the bills. I had some suspicions about which way it was going, and I wasn't very happy about it.

So I decided to stop pushing for a while. I decided to take a break from tour planning. This meant accepting that there would not be a fall USA tour, since work visa/immigration requirements are such that the visa application has to be submitted 90-120 days in advance. I decided that I'd wait until 2011 for the next tour in the USA.

At one level, this felt like a relief. After an extended season of performing in the USA, I wouldn't have to push so hard, so fast, to make another tour possible. I could relax a little bit.

At another level, this left me with some significant questions and uncertainty. That fall schedule was looking awfully empty. Would the calls come? Would there be manna again in the morning? Would the quails fly in again on the evening breeze? Really?

Well, wouldn't you know it, a couple of weeks after making this decision, I received a phone call with a performance invitation in Winnipeg... for the fall... precisely the kind of call, and event, that can often serve as a starting point and an "anchor" for planning other things around it.

And a couple of days later an e-mail arrived with an invitation to lead worship at a retreat in Laurelville, Pennsylvania... at the end of February 2011... a perfect time to begin a USA tour, and a good "anchor" event for beginning the work visa/immigration process and tour planning for a spring USA tour.

I stopped pushing, I let go, I made the conscious (though difficult) choice to take a period of "rest" and resist trying to stack up the manna in a barn... and, sure enough, more manna appeared, and the quails flew in... (here's the fall schedule, which I think is looking really good)... and it wasn't the result of my hard-driving efforts. It was (is) a gift. Thank you, God.

That's one choice I made - the choice to "rest" and not push so hard, for a time, in pursuing gigs and tour possibilities.

The other choice I made was to enter into a "fallow" period in terms of songwriting. Rather than working at new songs (and there are plenty on the "to do" list), I chose to spend more time just "playing" and having fun with my guitar. Specifically, I spent time exploring a new tuning (DADGAD) - something I've wanted to do for a long time - and learning a bunch of instrumental pieces. I don't know if any of this is particularly "practical" or "useful" for my music ministry... learning a new tuning is a lot like learning a new language, a new grammar and vocabulary, and I expect it will be a long time before (if) I become "fluent" enough in this new language to be using it in my own writing...

But that's not really the point. Who knows? In any case, it's been fun to focus on learning new things, training the fingers to move in different ways, in different patterns... internalizing some different progressions, different rhythms, and accessing and expressing some familiar ones in different ways...

Again... sounds a lot like a "sabbatical" - like the "desert curriculum" of manna and quails - doesn't it? Needing to practice and internalize new (old) rhythms and patterns... learning to become "fluent" in a different kind of grammar...

Interestingly enough, this "consciously-chosen-fallow" time for me has also coincided with some significant developments in my wife's vocational journey. I mentioned in that earlier blog post that I've been "Walking with my spouse on her own "in-between" journey of seeking employment and career-wonderings..." During the last few months more clarity has emerged on that journey - Julie is now embarking on her own venture as a self-employed, musical person - she will be teaching piano as a certified teacher of the "Simply Music" method.

We are excited about this new venture, and it is exciting to see how Julie - and our family - has been energized through this process.

It's been a good summer. Can we face uncertainty without being crippled by anxiety? Will the manna and quails keep showing up? I think we're learning to trust, a little more each day. Thanks be to God.

peace - in public!

2010-07-12T11:42:00.005-04:00

I've been getting some requests for the "Peace in Public" song that I sang at the Mennonite Church Canada Assembly last week in Calgary... a tongue-in-cheek look at the "Peace in the Public Square/1000 Acts of Peace" initiative from a rather different perspective... it's not often that a song dripping in irony becomes a "congregational song" (and, in fact, I wouldn't recommend it...!), but by the end (and once people had "caught" the tone) people were certainly singing along with the refrain...

The last verse was jotted down during the session on the morning of the "Live For Peace" report... based on one of the more amazing stories that we heard... Follow the links in the text for more on the specific references...

Peace - in Public!
(words and music by Bryan Moyer Suderman, © 2010 SmallTall Music)

1. I don't know if you've heard - if not, it falls to me
To warn you of the latest threat to our security
There's a group of people, once "the quiet in the land,"
Now they're speaking out in public, and getting out of hand...

Refrain:

It's peace - in public! - and it's breaking out all over
You'd better watch your back, keep looking over your shoulder
You never can be sure, these folks are only getting bolder
It's peace - in public! - and it's breaking out all over.

2. Riding on the C-train, you'd think I'd be OK
Minding my own business, in nobody's way
I validate my ticket, and headed for the back
And then I saw a little sign that stopped me in my tracks...
It said "Imagine life without war"... (Refrain)

3. Driving down the #1 I know what I will see
Towns and fields and farmers keep me company
But one day in November I thought I'd call the police
A great big sign beside the road said:
"To remember is to work for peace"... (Refrain)

4. It's not just a sign or two posted here or there
It's 1000 Acts of Peace, in the public square
These crazy people think their message has been heaven-sent
They even want a Department of Peace in our government...!

5. I don't know how it looks to you, but it seems to me
What we're dealing with, my friends, is a conspiracy
We'd better nip this in the bud, starting here and now
Or else these people might just turn our whole world upside down...! (Refrain)

6. Not too long ago some leaders gathered round
It took a billion dollars to keep them safe and sound
At the same time, in Winnipeg, other leaders gathered too
And now there is a 9th Millenial Goal for me and you... that goal is (Refrain)

(A note re: the last verse... World religious leaders, following Robert (Jack) Suderman's address and recommendation at the 2010 World Religions Summit, included the following statement in the final text of their official statement to the G8 leaders: "We condemn religiously motivated terrorism and extremism and commit to stop the teaching and justification of the use of violence between and among our faith communities." A remarkable and far-reaching commitment indeed, coming from religious leaders representing Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Shinto, Hindu, Aboriginal, Baha'i, and Buddhist faiths from over 20 countries...! The implications are very far-reaching... peace in public, indeed...)

that's encouraging

2010-06-21T11:36:00.002-04:00

A song sung 20 years ago that's had a lasting impact on someone?

That's encouraging... These are stories we often don't hear... Thanks, Doug!

And, as it happens, some of Doug's current involvements (chronicled wonderfully, along with many others, here) have in turn inspired a new song that apparently I'll be singing at some point at the upcoming Mennonite Church Canada Assembly... the cycle goes on... amazing how that works...

l'arche at last

2010-06-08T10:55:00.003-04:00

It was a long time coming. Immediately after my concert in Lethbridge a couple of years ago, Brad came up to me and boisterously shook my hand and said I must, I MUST, come to be the speaker at their L'Arche retreat. Brad is one of the core members of the L'Arche Lethbridge community ("core members" in a L'Arche community are the wonderfully gifted and loved people who have an intellectual disability and around whom the community is formed, living in a household with "assistants" and with the involvement and support of other "members" who participate in various ways in the life of the community). Marie, who had accompanied Brad and some other core members to the concert, smiled and nodded and gave me a little more background about L'Arche Lethbridge and their annual retreat (that's Brad in the cowboy hat on their website).

A couple of months later I received an official letter of invitation from Brad and Marie, on behalf of the community, inviting me to come and be the resource person for their retreat. I was touched and grateful and excited... but I was already booked for that weekend. So I wrote back and asked if there was a chance I could participate some time farther into the future. Not long afterwards there was another reply, with an invitation to the following year's retreat.

So I've had this event on my calendar for about a year and a half... and this past weekend we were together at a little retreat centre in the Crowsnest Pass, on the border between Alberta and BC. And the only thing more beautiful than this spectacular corner of God's good earth was the opportunity to witness and participate in the love and life of this community of faith.

I was asked to lead 4 sessions on the theme of "New Life - New Beginnings." As we explored the Scriptures together, it seemed to me that all I was doing was offering, again and again, another way of articulating (singing) the reality of new life and new beginnings that are lived (incarnated) in their life as community every day: God's work as creator (Genesis 1), God's calling and forming and sending people-in-community to be blessed and to be a blessing, as co-workers in God's ministry of reconciliation (Genesis 12, Acts 2, 2 Corinthians 5:16-6:1), the way our lives in community anticipate the "new heavens and new earth" that is God's vision and future for all of creation (Isaiah 65, Revelation 21, 22).

All of this is lived so fully, structured so carefully, shared so humbly in the life of the L'Arche community that has its problems and challenges, certainly, but that is a vivid witness to the Kingdom where the last are first, where those who are typically excluded are the feast's guests of honour, where the smallest of seeds grows to give shelter to all.

A glimpse of the Kingdom come.

unproductive... or fallow?

2010-05-27T10:10:00.002-04:00

On the face of it, there doesn't seem to be much difference between a field (or a time) that is "unproductive" and one that is "lying fallow." In both cases, it's not "producing" a crop.

And yet the difference - in our understanding - is immense.

"Unproductive" is a negative word... value comes from producing, right?... and if something is unproductive... well... there's something wrong. It's not doing what it's supposed to do. Anxiety.

"Fallow," on the other hand, is a positive word. It's a healthy and indispensable part of a broader process. Land that is lying "fallow" is not "unproductive" at all - it is resting, rejuvenating, replenishing and restoring and preparing for future seasons of growth and "production"... Land that is lying "fallow" - as a healthy part of a broader process - is doing exactly what it's supposed to do. Rest. Trust.

This summer marks the completion of 7 years of my "SmallTall Music" ministry... that is, 7 years since my music ministry stopped being a "side thing" and became my "main thing" both vocationally and economically.

I can't help but feel like the past 5 months or so... since the new year (since I injured my finger at the beginning of January)... have been the most "unproductive" time since this music ministry began. "Unproductive" particularly in terms of new writing. I've simply been struggling to even sit down to write. The ruminating (key part of the songwriting process) continues unabated... the list of "songs to write" and ideas to work on continues to grow... but actually working on new songs... very little.

For the first time in the four years that I've been operating my "community supported music" initiative, I missed a "delivery of songs" to my members. There simply wasn't anything there. A difficult "growing season."

I am grateful for the understanding and support of that community, the "members" of my CSM, which, like the "Community Supported Agriculture" system by which it is inspired, is intended to be a "shared risk" system. Rather than just "consumers" of a "product," the members are partners in the production and consumption/enjoyment/use of food (music)... where good growing conditions mean abundant portions for everyone, and the risk of poor growing conditions (hail, unseasonal frost... injury...) is not born by the farmer alone.

To be sure, it has been a busy and "productive" time in other ways (interesting how those two words tend to go together in my mind... I'm not sure that's altogether accurate/healthy). The new Gather 'Round curriculum CD and extensive spring touring schedule have been good.

And yet...

It seems like a "desert" season in other respects too (again, interesting how terms like "unproductive," "fallow," and "desert" can rattle around and intersect...). Walking with my spouse on her own "in-between" journey of seeking employment and career-wonderings... economic stresses... considerable uncertainty...

One of the stresses about leaving a field "fallow" is when you feel that you need the income... leaving a field "unproductive" when it could be generating crops and income can be a difficult thing to do... and yet allowing for "fallow" times can be just what is needed to enable long-term, sustainable health (including "production")...

After 7 years of this ministry, I find myself acutely aware of peers and colleagues in various ministry roles (particularly pastors and professors) who have structured "sabbatical" times built into their roles. I wonder if I'm sensing the need for a "sabbatical" too. If the fields of my ministry need a time of "Sabbath" as well.

But for me to take a "sabbatical," to leave some of the fields of my ministry fallow for a time, feels like a bigger risk. It's one thing to take a sabbatical when you're still drawing a salary (or portion thereof)... with a "secure" position to return to... What happens when I sense a need for a sabbatical of some kind right when economic concerns are acute?

It strikes me that this is precisely part of the "wilderness curriculum" with which God was instructing the Israelites for so many years in the desert. How hard it would have been to live on manna day to day, having to trust that there would be enough. How hard to be receptive to instructions to extend Sabbath rest to the land on the 7th year...

Can the farmer (and community) afford to let the field lie fallow? Can the farmer (and community) afford not to?

forgotten songs

2010-05-11T12:12:00.005-04:00

In the bathroom, about 2 minutes before the beginning of my concert in Akron, Pennsylvania, I suddenly realized: "Hey - I'm in Akron, Pennsylvania!"

Of course I'll understand if this flash of insight doesn't have quite the same effect on you as it did on me. It may strike you as just a tad obvious. But allow me to continue...

The town of Akron PA, you see, is the headquarters of the Mennonite Central Committee, and I had written a song back in the fall, called "New Wine," specifically for the use of Mennonite Central Committee in it's "New Wine/New Wineskins" process.

So it suddenly occurred to me: "If ever there was a time to sing that "New Wine" song, this would be it! Now, how does it go again...?"

I sat there and wracked my brain trying to remember the lyrics and the chords (I could remember the melody no problem, but the chord progression was a bit unusual, and I didn't have the chance to go to the guitar and renew my acquaintance with the tune).

Partway through the concert I decided to take the plunge and give it a try... and I couldn't for the life of me remember the chords. On the second try I made it through the chorus, but that was as far as I got. We made a joke of it and went on... good times... but I lost that unique chance to sing that song with these folks where it would have been particularly "at home." Arli Klassen told me later that if she had had her Blackberry with her, she could have called it up and showed it to me (she received it as part of one of my "deliveries of songs" through my "community supported music" system).

I've also been trying to find a song that I wrote and sang at the Iglesia Menonita Nueva Vida in Toronto on Easter Sunday, 2009. I can remember the chorus, but I don't remember the verses, and can't find it written down anywhere (I remember finishing them up in the parking lot and on the front bench that Sunday morning... I guess the scrap of paper didn't make it back into my guitar case). I seem to recall they sometimes record their services, so I'm hoping I can get a hold of a recording somewhere, and maybe re-learn the song (I seem to remember it was a good one).

And this weekend, visiting with some friends, Luke showed me another scrap of paper that he had found in a Wendell Berry book I had lent him... the paper had a scribbled lyric that was an early version of one of the verses for "Infiltrating the World," which is on my most recent CD.

If anyone else has found other forgotten songs of mine hanging around in whatever form, please let me know. I just might be looking for it, and if not, I may have some use for it.

kindred spirits in kentucky

2010-04-22T20:48:00.005-04:00

I knew I was in for a special time when I came to Kentucky. The home of Wendell Berry, Barbara Kingsolver, the intentional community that I'd never met but that invited me to come (and whose blog I'd already been reading for years).

But little did I know that I'd find such kindred spirits, and spend so many hours in delightful conversation about everything from missional church and neo-monasticism, urban gardening, Community Supported Agriculture, the dynamics of change and community, vocational discernment... as I learned about Sean's great book project, the Seedleaf initiative... and on and on and on...

That's not even to mention the energetic concert we had with a group of young families (see pictures here)... and I got to help Maggie and Seth as they first rode their bikes for the first time without training wheels... And I heard the amazing story of London Ferrell and spent an afternoon in the community garden that bears his name... wrote a song about it, actually, and walked the prayer labyrinth there...

While I'm certainly going to be glad to be heading home again soon (and looking forward to the upcoming weekend in Lancaster County), I have a hunch that these last few days in Kansas, Iowa and Kentucky have renewed my spirit in unexpected ways that I'll be discovering for some time to come...

growing harmony in iowa

2010-04-20T16:51:00.007-04:00

Look at all the people who came to one of my Iowa concerts!

Just kidding. On Saturday my hosts and I joined the throngs of people - 23,000 strong - who turned out to watch the University of Iowa football team. Their opponents? Nobody. That’s the number of people who came out to watch the Hawkeyes PRACTICE!

People here loooove their college football...

For the past 4 days I’ve been experiencing a state where I’ve never been before (Iowa, that is, in case you were imagining something more hallucinogenic), and re-connecting with friends that I hadn’t seen in 18 years. I first met Gary and Nancy in Bolivia in the early 80s, when I was a teenager living in Cochabamba and they were MCC workers in the “campo” outside of Santa Cruz.

Nancy was one of the first REAL LIVE RECORDING ARTISTS that I ever got to meet - we had a cassette of her playing the guitar and singing Spanish “coritos” that we sang in many a church service.

And one summer my brother and I spent a week with Gary out in the country where he was doing agricultural development work. That week was most memorable (partly because Gary won’t let us forget it) for the time that my brother and I mistakenly cut down a whole field of carefully sown pasture when our assignment was actually to cut down the weeds. How were we to know the difference, “green” city kids that we were... in the days before “green” meant aware of and concerned about the natural world...?

Gary still gets a lot of mileage out of that story, and gave me a chance to redeem myself by joining him in planting 4000 onions on my first morning in Iowa.

What a delight to get to know Gary and Nancy again, and see their Community Supported Agriculture farm in operation (yes, that is a wind turbine you see in the photo). Last year Gary produced 21,000 pounds of vegetables on his not-quite-2-acre farm, and he has been running his organic CSA since 1997, providing weekly deliveries of fresh vegetables for the 84 families who are “members” of Growing Harmony farm.

Gary has also been a member of my “SmallTall Reference Council” since the beginning, interacting with me via e-mail with wise counsel and experience as I have set up my own “Community Supported Music” system.

Nancy and Gary drove me around to all 4 of my Iowa performances in different communities (Des Moines, Iowa City, West Union, and Cedar Falls). No community was the same, and no concert or worship service was the same. It was a delight for me, and there was great response (although, admittedly, not as many people as turned out to watch the Hawkeyes last “spring practice”).

Now I’m on the train again, munching on one of Gary’s famous carrots on my way to Kentucky, another state where I’ve never been before and where I’ll get to spend some time and do a concert with “Communality,” an intentional community in Lexington. Looking forward to it!

(In case you can't read it, the front of the t-shirt says: "The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution." - Paul Cezanne

And the back says "That day has COME!" - Growing Harmony Farm)

and a little child shall instigate

2010-04-16T00:32:00.002-04:00

As people were gathering before the concert last night, I heard a number of people say variations on "Lucca must be excited"... "I bet Lucca had something to do with this"... "thanks, Lucca, for helping make sure this happens"...

Apparently Lucca, age 4 (I think she's 4), was one of the "movers and shakers" to bring me to Newton, Kansas, for a concert.

So let me add my voice to the chorus - thanks, Lucca!

grandpa jake

2010-04-13T14:55:00.002-04:00

While I was waiting for the train in Buffalo I received the news of the death of my step-grandfather Jake Goertzen at the age of 91.

Grandpa Jake married my grandma the week before Julie and I got married (we coordinated the dates so that my family, living in Colombia at the time, could make it back for both weddings). I can't say I ever got to know Grandpa Jake very well, but my most vivid memories of him are as a wonderful, funny man who made my grandma very happy again.

It feels terrible to be far away at a time like this, but it was good to talk with my grandma on the phone yesterday. She reminded me that their honeymoon was their trip to our wedding... and she wanted to know all about my tour, which I think was her gentle way of saying it's ok that I can't be there for the funeral.

I know tomorrow afternoon in Winkler, Manitoba there will be a lot of people gathered to remember and give thanks for the life of Jake Goertzen... and as I travel in and out of Newton, Kansas for tomorrow night's concert, I'll be remembering and giving thanks too.

heading out... first stop, newton kansas

2010-04-11T21:16:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow at the crack of dawn (more or less - I'm not exactly sure when the cracking happens) I'll be climbing aboard and starting the next railroad tour. First performance is an all-ages concert at New Creation Fellowship Church in Newton, Kansas at 7:00 pm on Wednesday (that's April 14). If you're from there - can't wait to see you! And if you're not - tell any of your friends and family who might be!

You can see my tour itinerary here... train blogging will commence shortly...

ain't no grave gonna hold my body down

2010-04-01T11:29:00.002-04:00

I first heard this song when Julie and I went to see Crooked Still at Hugh's Room in Toronto. Loved the band, and this is one of the two songs ("Wading Deep Waters" was the other one) that absolutely blew me away and that I couldn't stop hearing/humming/singing for weeks afterwards.

A resurrection song with ATTITUDE! "Gabriel don't you blow that trumpet until you hear from me... ain't no grave gonna hold my body down..."

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMfGosu1C_M

Here's an entirely different "take" on the song, by Johnny Cash, not long before he died. The sound of a chain rattling in a box (I believe that's what it is) gives it a particularly eerie quality... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25EYTbrmgM8&feature=related

A few months ago I also found a haunting, almost terrifying version, sung by a young father directly into his computer screen/mic, quietly and intensely and unaccompanied (a note accompanying the video said he didn't want to wake the children, but the hushed approach to the passionate vocals gave the song an entirely different "edge"). I can't find it on YouTube anymore now that the Johnny Cash version has been released and dominates the searches for the song...

Whatever the tone and colour and "edge" of this season for you... I wish you a blessed Easter, and a tenacious faith in the possibility of new life...

"Ain't no grave gonna hold my body down..."

"riding the rails" press release

2010-03-26T14:17:00.003-04:00

Here's the press release I'm sending around in advance of the next leg of the tour.

Riding the rails to share songs from Kansas to Kentucky

Spending weeks at a time traveling by train isn't everyone's idea of a good time. But it's all “part of the job” for Bryan Moyer Suderman, who has logged over 10,000 miles by rail in the past year, carrying his guitar, a backpack full of CDs, and a soul full of music across North America, including stops in the next few weeks in Newton Kansas, southeastern Iowa, Lexington Kentucky, and Lancaster County Pennsylvania.

Moyer Suderman has become known for his unique gift of crafting songs and performances that draw from the deep wells of biblical vision and wisdom while being accessible and fun for young and old alike. Audiences respond to the warmth of his voice, the contagious nature of his songs, and his signature interactive style of singing and song leading. Since the release of his ﬁrst CD “God's Love is for Everybody”
in 2002, Bryan's “songs of faith for small and tall” have become favorites with families and churches across North America and beyond, and have been published in various hymnal, songbook, curriculum and other resources. “A New Heart” is his 4th CD released on the SmallTall Music label (www.smalltallmusic.com).

But why travel by train?

While travel and performing is an important part of Moyer Suderman's work (he recently returned from Paraguay, where he was part of the song leading team at the recent Mennonite World Conference Assembly), he also struggles with how to carry out this vocation in a way that is sustainable economically and ecologically as well as sustainable in terms of healthy relationships with his family and local community
(he attends Community Mennonite Church of Stouffville Ontario).

As a result, Moyer Suderman works to keep his long-distance travel schedule conﬁned to a limited number of weeks per year, and then to “make hay while the sun shines” and perform as much as possible while he is on the road. CanRail and Amtrak rail passes offer a way to do that at a low cost and in a way that reduces the carbon emissions that would result from more “one-off” ﬂights to long-distance engagements. Moyer
Suderman completed a coast-to-coast USA railroad tour last spring and took the train from Toronto to Vancouver and back last fall before his current tour in the American Midwest.

Another component of Moyer Suderman's long-term strategy is what he calls his “Community Supported Music” system. This is an innovative online delivery system for music that is patterned after the “Community Supported Agriculture” (CSA) approach, making regular “deliveries” of new songs that are “fresh, home- grown, and always in season.” Since pioneering this alternative business model for the arts, now in its
fourth year, Moyer Suderman has made quarterly “deliveries” of new songs - complete with music notation, chords, thoughts and reﬂections, and activity ideas and tips for using the songs in home, school, and congregational settings. Various other artists have picked up on the idea as well, have been applying this model to their own work.

Bryan lives near Toronto, Ontario with his wife Julie and son Matthew. For more about Bryan Moyer Suderman recordings, downloads, and tour schedule, visit www.smalltallmusic.com, and discover more about his “Community Supported Music” system at www.bryanmoyersuderman.com

19 out of 20 and the spring tour begins

2010-03-06T14:16:00.002-05:00

Last night I sent off the last of the preliminary mixes for the next Gather Round Sunday School curriculum CD (well, the 19th out of 20 songs... the 20th will have wait just a bit longer). While it's been intense and far too compressed a time line for my liking (thank you, finger injury), I've been enjoying putting these songs together and finding new ways to do some old (and new) favourites. I'm beginning to feel like I know my way around editing in Cubase by now... and laying down what might pass as reasonably funky bass lines was an uncommon and unexpected delight (I don't get to play bass very often).

And it's always a blast - especially since I typically perform solo these days - to collaborate with others in the recording process. I had met but never worked with Tom Cummings before (we recorded drums for three songs in a day at John's studio - now that's takin' care of business!), and it's also fun to get different family groups in to sing. Thanks everyone for helping out!

Now I'm off in a few minutes for the first leg of my spring tour - a one-week circle around Lake Eerie, with a few days in Leamington, a few in Indiana, and a Sunday morning in State College Pennsylvania. Looking forward to it.

sequestered in smalltall studios...

2010-02-25T18:27:00.002-05:00

... not a bad place to be...

new song for lent

2010-02-18T12:42:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I sent out a new song to the members of my "community supported music" initiative. It's a setting of Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane... and a way for us to sing the "wrestling match" between two prayers that I believe we NEED to pray - both of them - while acknowledging the fact that they may sometimes be in tension with each other:

"Please take this cup from me."

"Yet not my will, but yours."

Not easy stuff.

I also sent a new arrangement of "You're Not Alone," a song of solidarity in the midst of suffering... and particularly fitting, it seems to me, during this Lenten season, as we again experience God's solidarity with us in our suffering... and as we are called to learn what it means to be in solidarity with one another, across the street and around the world.

20 songs in 20 days

2010-02-10T14:25:00.002-05:00

Now that my finger is back in working order (although not yet back to 100%), I have some serious catching up to do. I had been going to record the songs for the next Gather 'Round curriculum CD throughout January and February... now I'll need to record 20 songs in 20 days. Not exactly the way I'd like to be doing it, but I'm feeling up for the challenge. Looking forward to working on the piano songs with Charlene in John's studio tomorrow.

notating and arranging songs

2010-02-05T11:03:00.006-05:00

Charlene Nafziger and I are working on a vocal-and-piano arrangement of "You're Not Alone," to be more easily accessible for congregational singing. Are there other songs of mine for which you wish we had notated vocal arrangements and accompaniment parts?

Irredeemable folkie-at-heart that I am, I have always harboured a deep and abiding suspicion of music notation. While I have at best rudimentary note-reading skills (learned by, and enough to participate in, singing hymns in worship), my relationship with written notation when it comes to my own music is considerably more uncomfortable. I often feel that the process of notating my music tends to flatten-and-straighten it out, and the quirky nuances that little children easily pick up by ear and imitate and sing effortlessly do not often "translate" well to the written page. I find it incomprehensible that a person would actually PREFER to learn a new piece of music by "reading" it rather than hearing it.

And yet I know that, while there are those who pick up music "by ear" and are comfortable and effective making use of my songs that way, there are many others who enjoy and appreciate my music and would love to use more of it but find it not very accessible unless it's "written down." What to do?

I am so grateful to have found Charlene. Not only is she an amazing and astonishingly versatile piano player (who has played on each of my last 2 studio albums, as well as on a couple of other projects we've worked on together, and of course many other projects of her own), she also happens to be personable, kind, fun, creative, organized, efficient, thorough, reliable, smart, honest... And she has a heart for the church and well-honed instincts for effective worship leading... and she is able to move just as comfortably in the world of playing-by-ear-and-intuition and notation-reading-and-writing-and-technical-precision.

Charlene and I first worked together on the "My Money Talks: songs for worship" project (click here and scroll down), and she developed piano accompaniment parts and arrangements (including some vocal arrangements) for the songs in that collection. She wrestles my melodic meanderings into notated form on a regular basis for each of the "song deliveries" that I send quarterly to the members of my "community supported music" initiative (see www.bryanmoyersuderman.com). And most recently we developed a 4-part vocal arrangement and piano accompaniment part for "I Will Trust In You," which was published in Leader magazine as a theme song for the Advent 2009 worship resources.

Now we are also working at developing notated versions and piano accompaniment parts for some other songs that I've written over the years. I mentioned that we're working on an arrangement and accompaniment part for "You're Not Alone," for which I've been getting more and more requests since it was used at the Mennonite World Conference Assembly in Paraguay in July.

Which other songs of mine do you think we should do in this way? Please let us know...

an interesting experiment

2010-01-26T09:53:00.004-05:00

Within the span of a few weeks, try this:

- read "The Transition Handbook: from oil dependency to local resilience" by Rob Hopkins
- see the movie "The Road"
- read the book of Acts (better yet, meet weekly to study it with your community)
- get a whopping car repair bill
- meet with a group of folks from your community to talk about future direction and next steps for your work/career/vocation
- read anything by Wendell Berry

... and see what kind of effect it has on you...

refuge and strength

2010-01-20T10:16:00.007-05:00

In our congregational worship on Sunday, as we prayed for the people of Haiti, our pastor referred to Romans 8:26 - “... the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” And we sang “God Is Our Refuge And Strength,” an adaptation of Psalm 46 written by a close friend in response to another great tragedy, and a very fitting (almost shockingly so) song for this time.

As I read about "compassion more widespread than violence in Haiti," and about people singing in the streets of Port-au-Prince, I am reminded again of the power and importance of the songs we sing - the songs that have become part of us, and can help to sustain us, mobilize us, bind us together, and give us words to pray when no other words can be found. Lord, hear our prayers.

it's a strange start...

2010-01-11T14:37:00.003-05:00

... when the first day back after the holidays, eager to make progress on all those projects that have been simmering on the back burner, I jammed and dislocated my left index finger playing basketball. No bones are broken (although I can now confirm that they are remarkably resonant when pulled back into place by qualified medical staff), but the finger is still swollen, sore, and not very mobile - it's going to be at least a couple of weeks before I can play guitar.

Thankfully my next performance isn't until February 14, and the extended spring tour doesn't swing into gear until a few weeks after that. The doctor and physiotherapist told me today that I should be "good to go" by then. The writing and recording I'd been planning for January and February... well, we'll just have to see how it goes.

2010, here we come!

signing off until the new year

2009-12-22T22:09:00.003-05:00

For days I have bouncing around ideas for a brilliant and inspirational blog post to wrap up the year and reflect on climate change and the Copenhagen conference and Christmas and the church and various other words that begin with "c"...

But it seems that post is not going to happen, at least not now, and I expect to be offline for the next week and a bit more.

So I'll sign off until 2010. Do check back - there'll be plenty more going on here again in January.

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas, and a blessed New Year.

the second set

2009-12-10T09:46:00.003-05:00

At last Friday's concert, a "hometown" celebration in Stouffville after extensive touring this fall, I got to do something that is, for me, a rare treat. A second set.

My most typical concert performance is an all-ages interactive event that lasts about an hour. For the younger ones in an inter-generational audience, this seems to be about the right time limit... and it allows enough time for a concert experience that can be shaped to include lots of fun and activity, some more reflective moments, and an inspirational experience for all ages that is satisfying and leaves the audience wanting more... Generally, a good balance.

But here's the thing. I've been writing more and more material that doesn't fit that all-ages format very well (or at all). There is a whole range of folky stuff that I've been able to work in a song or two here or there, but the one hour all-ages format doesn't really allow me to explore and develop and build on a sequence of those songs and stories that can be very meaningful and moving but that doesn't have the kind of "action" that will hold the attention of the younger ones.

There are also some songs that come from a place of deep pain and struggle and are very intense - both to sing and to hear. Those songs are also getting very strong and positive response (the few times I've performed them), but they don't really "fit" in the one hour all-ages format.

So what to do?

Last Friday night, which was advertised as an "all-ages concert," began at 7:30 pm (a late start for younger children), and was divided into two sets. At the close of the first set (the one hour, all-ages "interactive" set), I said that for some folks it's getting well past their bedtime, so if they need to leave, that's just fine. But I wasn't done singing yet, so for anybody who wanted to stick around I had another set of music for them - a set that would be in more of a "stories and songs" and less of a "sing-along" format...

Well, that second set - including a bunch of brand new songs that have not been recorded on a studio album - ended up being a real highlight of the evening, both for me and (judging by the banter and applause and ovation/encore and comments afterwards) for the audience as well. There is something about going into the dark places - emotionally and musically - that adds a level of intensity and vulnerability and depth and that makes the inspirational and uplifting elements of the experience come alive in another dimension.

The only other times I have done this kind of "second set" have been in two house concerts, where I did an initial set that was especially child-oriented, and then there was childcare provided and I did a second set for the parents/adults. These events, too, have gone very well and received a great deal of positive feedback.

Maybe this is something that I need to do more often...

all four on itunes

2009-12-07T14:56:00.003-05:00

All 4 Bryan Moyer Suderman - SmallTall Music CDs are now available on iTunes. And there was much rejoicing!

two sites...

2009-12-01T20:56:00.002-05:00

... that inspired me today.

Here and here.

After all, Advent is a time to renew our hope that small things can (and do) make a big difference...

I believe; help my unbelief!

a bit of press nevertheless

2009-11-26T13:51:00.005-05:00

This one makes me giggle, as it gives the impression I've been riding the rails non-stop since February...

Although this one ("Artbeat" section of the Nov. 30 issue) makes a number of assumptions that I vigorously question, and makes a rather odd and chronologically impossible assertion regarding the "influence" of one song, it does put its finger on a dilemma that I've been wrestling with in "creating and sharing songs of faith for small AND tall"...

And some friends pointed out this thoughtful piece to me a while ago, which I find encouraging...

new CD on iTunes

2009-11-20T13:12:00.007-05:00

"A New Heart" is now available on iTunes, along with "My Money Talks: songs for worship." My first two CDs will soon be available there too.

For some reason I've been having trouble posting a direct link to the page of the iTunes store (digital dinosaur that I am)... but hey, if this is how you access your music, you know how it works.

(UPDATE, sent in by alert-and-media-savvy-reader-and-friend-who-happens-to-work-for-Apple: the link is RIGHT HERE.)

Enjoy! Tell your friends! And your enemies!

the dread pirate roberts

2009-11-05T15:39:00.003-05:00

After I had finished leading/speaking/singing at Rouge Valley on Sunday, John sidled up to me and, with a whispered "thank you," slipped me this portrait that he'd drawn. Apparently his ancestor, Bartholomew Roberts, was a pirate. And not just any pirate - the one who, in 1734, designed that skull-and-crossbones image that we all know. Yes, that one.

And now his great-great-great-great-great grandson (or whatever), John Roberts, Stouffville resident and accomplished artist in his own right, is carrying on the family tradition. Artistically anyway.

Thanks, John! I'll treasure this portrait! What's that - more treasure, you say...? Inconceivable!

piano accompaniment for "I Will Trust In You"

2009-11-02T12:37:00.003-05:00

A piano accompaniment part for "I Will Trust In You" (about which I have blogged previously) is now posted on Leader magazine's "worship resources" webpage for Advent 2009. The recording is available as a free download here. Thanks to Charlene Nafziger for doing a wonderful job with this piano/vocal arrangement!

a new one

2009-10-28T12:44:00.004-04:00

Pete Seeger, Paul Simon, John Denver, Woody Guthrie, John McCutcheon, Raffi, Stan Rogers, Roger Whitaker, Bruce Cockburn, Steve Bell, John Bell, Chuck Neufeld, Tom Paxton, Bob Franke, Fred Penner, Graham Kendrick, Kris Kristofferson, James Keelaghan...

And the most recent one, as of this past Sunday: Jack Johnson.

This is a quick off-the-top-of-my-head list of names that people have referred to after one of my performances, saying "You know, you (or "your voice" or "your music") really reminds me of __________."

Invariably this is meant as (and I am glad to accept it as) a compliment. It's fun to hear from people what they hear in my music that connects with other music and musicians that they love.

Presumably there might also be those that would say "You (or "your voice" or "your music") really reminds me of _________, and I think they suck." But thankfully no one has actually come up to me and said that. Yet.

apocalyptic climate change advent song

2009-10-22T14:59:00.003-04:00

There has been a very steady stream of downloads of my "I Will Trust In You" song, which is recommended as a theme song in the Advent worship resources published by Leader magazine. And along with the downloads has come a steady stream of e-mails asking about notation for a piano accompaniment for the song.

We're working on it! Charlene Nafziger, who plays piano on the recording, is working on a piano arrangement, and it's ALMOST ready... I'll let you know as soon as it is...

amazing grace(s)

2009-10-15T10:54:00.002-04:00

After a month at the receiving end of hospitality in so many places, I am profoundly grateful. Meals, rides, a bed with extra blankets, an offer to do some laundry, an invitation to visit, or to rest... and one of the generous gestures that moved me more and more was the simple act of prayer.

Around so many tables, before so many meals, I was led in prayer by folks who prayed for me, and included me in their intimate and ordinary conversations with God about the day-to-day stuff of life. As time went on I found myself more and more moved by this simple but powerful experience.

Including a special "welcome home" supper last night, with the (rare, but delightful) experience of being led in prayer by our own 12 year old son.

Amazing grace, indeed.

one more sleep...

2009-10-10T23:21:00.002-04:00

... one more gig... one more train ride and it's homeward bound... can't wait to be home with Julie and Matthew again...

surrounded by art

2009-10-06T16:34:00.004-04:00

Touring is definitely an experience of being "immersed" in one's art... I still have to shake my head and give myself a pinch, knowing that I get to travel around and sing my songs for and with communities all over the place... and in the last few communities that I've visited I've been particularly struck by what an affirming and life-giving thing it is to be surrounded by art, including art of your own making.

As I write this I am sitting in Hilda and Jake's living room... a couple in their eighties that have been generously hosting me here in Saskatoon... and as I look around I see 4 beautiful paintings by Hilda on the walls... and a series of 6 framed drawings that were made and given to her by her grandfather, who carried them out of Russia... that art is over a hundred years old...

At supper last night we enjoyed Jake's homemade wine made from buffalo berries and choke cherries that Jake and Hilda picked themselves (Hilda showed me the bush during our walk yesterday). This morning we had choke cherry and buffalo berry jam on our toast.

And the night before I did a house concert (and later slept) in the living room of the old schoolhouse which has been lovingly and beautifully restored by and is the home of Colleen and Jeff, sister and brother, in Duval Saskatchewan - both amazing artists in their own right, Colleen with songs and the written word, and Jeff with his pottery...

Before the house concert we had a potluck meal with about a dozen people, and every plate, cup, serving dish, pitcher... all of it was made a few feet away in Jeff's pottery studio... with more pottery displayed on shelves and bookcases all through the house. And during the concert Colleen sang one of her songs and dedicated it to Jeff and Nadia, who got engaged less than 24 hours before...

Even in the few hours I was in their home in Regina, I could tell that Ron and Toby are experienced - and take great delight - in their artistry as hosts (their home is known as the "Grace Mennonite Guest House"). Talking with Margaret and Gary about their pastoral vocation, and watching them interact with their community at the Hanley Community Centre on the evening of my concert there on Saturday, I was struck by the same kind of care and delight and artistry and quiet confidence...

There is something so affirming, so encouraging, so good and right about having a sense of vocation, of seeing and enjoying the fruit of your labours, together with friends, neighbours and strangers... something not always easy to find or experience, but what a joy when it is... A reflection, I'm sure, of the delight and creativity and satisfaction of a generous and creative/creator God who looks around the workshop (the garden, the kitchen table, the community centre), intimately acquainted with the process and materials of each and every piece, and says, with a great big smile...

"It is good."

pre-concert bike ride in hanley, saskatchewan

2009-10-05T22:32:00.003-04:00

I thought I'd go for a quick spin around the block at Margaret and Gary's place.

It's a big block.

fun in edmonton, grueling days ahead

2009-10-03T01:50:00.005-04:00

My Edmonton hosts definitely got the short end of the stick, train-schedule-wise... Tim W-N graciously picked me up at the train station just before midnight on Wednesday night... and the other Tim (Chesterton) is heroically getting up at the unearthly hour of 4:30 am to take me to the bus station - that's right, bus station - for my 6:00 am bus to Saskatoon (the one part of the trip where I couldn't get the train schedules to work).

... a long bike ride with Tim W-N down the Mill Creek Ravine path (is that the right name?) and along the North Saskatchewan river... an informal "song circle" gathering with some folks from First Mennonite... a late-night-and-mentally-taxing-but-astonishingly-fun game of "Pandemic"... an enjoyable afternoon discussing various things theological and ecclesiological, and hearing yet more great songs from Tim Chesterton... a fun concert at St. Margaret's Anglican Church, where it was a special treat to do a couple of songs together with Tim (including his "Jonah" song which I recorded on the new CD)...

It's been a full and good time in Edmonton. Now begins the most grueling part of the trip... a 7 hour bus ride tomorrow, followed by 3 performances (or 5, depending how you count them) in 25 hours in 3 different Saskatchewan communities... and 6 (or 8) in the next 5 days... crazy, I know...

Time to catch a few hours of shut-eye.

fascinating folks on the left coast

2009-09-29T21:06:00.002-04:00

Sitting on the ferry from Victoria back to Vancouver (I just saw a whale fin! I’m not kidding!)... thinking about all the fascinating folks I’ve had the chance to get to know during the last few days here in BC:

- Bruce Cockburn (actually, he spells it Cowburn, but pronounces it just like one of my musical heroes...sorry, I couldn’t resist...) of the United Church of Canada, who coordinated the “F-Word” (“faith-based fundraising”) stewardship conference together with folks from the Anglican and Evangelical Lutheran churches...

- Nathan Dungan, whose keynote addresses were riveting and inspiring - if you ever get a chance to hear him, or have him come and speak to your community, DO IT!

- Jane and Rick, who hosted me in their home and introduced me to the undeniable and extraordinary benefits of bopping to the “Momma Mia!” soundtrack as pre-concert and pre-worship vocal warm-ups...

- The LMF gang - Henry, the only pastor/strawberry farmer/soccer-coach-who’s-never-played-soccer that I know... Martin and company who recently broke the Guinness World Record for marathon board game sessions (they played Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights in the LMF library for 50 consecutive hours)... Brad and Esther who put on an incredible fondue meal spread that lasted 3 delectable hours... Ruth, who has written a book and CBC documentary film on letters from Mennonites in Stalinist Russia... Rick who strapped down my guitar and drove me to Vancouver in his Mazda Miata convertible...

- Hans, who learned to play the accordion at age 70 and is now a regular at various Vancouver churches and nursing homes...

- Corny and Agnes, who told me about watching his father being taken away to Siberia in the 30s (Corny), and served me grape juice, cherry tomatoes, and plum jelly all grown on their little Vancouver back yard (Agnes)...

- Ingrid, who pastors and intercultural church and speaks English, German, and Spanish and is now learning Farsi... and who spent her Monday morning lugging me to the train station to drop off a bag and then off to the ferry to Vancouver Island...

- Andrew and Monica and Isabella, whose house (with chickens in the back yard)and Italian bakery in Victoria have been a wonderful halfway-through-the-tour resting point... not to mention gourmet local foods and delightful conversation...

Now in Pacific Central Station and on VIA's wireless connection, so I can post this... grateful indeed for the generosity and hospitality of so many wonderful people.

Edmonton, here I come!

photos from the train

2009-09-25T16:57:00.005-04:00

Yes, I had my camera handy while we rolled through northern Saskatchewan...

... Jasper (compare Mt. Robson to how it looked the last time I was here)...

... and into the Fraser Valley...

I even had a meal in the dining car this time, courtesy of Mom and Dad. Wild Mushroom Ravioli, with chocolate cheesecake for dessert... mmm good... Thank you!

Ahhh, the life of the poor musician, suffering for his art...

inspiration

2009-09-24T14:11:00.007-04:00

While I was in Manitoba I got to visit two people who are huge inspirations for my life, musically and otherwise. They both happen to be named "Susie"... although I know them best as "grandma."

I remember as a child hearing Grandma Suderman - the most quiet and gentle and unassuming homemade-buns-and-noodle-soup-making grandma imaginable - telling what sounded to me like incredibly exotic stories about traveling to Mexico - Mexico! - as a girl. And talking about how she used to play the guitar. My grandma, playing the guitar? I never saw it, never heard it, but somehow the incongruity of that image fascinated me and fascinates me still.

Now she lives in Salem Home, receiving wonderful care, and because of her dementia she doesn't recognize people (didn't recognize me), and aside from initial bursts that are usually right on the money, she doesn't put words together in a way that makes sense to the rest of us. But she smiles and giggles and can still get off a zinger (like when I asked her if she likes to go for walks and she said "Sure" and then pointed at my dad and said "He doesn't!" and we all started laughing uncontrollably).

And my Grandma Goertzen (formerly Penner... nee Neufeld) is still going strong at age 87, puts her CDs on and listens to music first thing in the morning and got pretty darned frustrated when the cleaning person bumped some buttons and messed up the settings so she couldn't listen to music for THREE WHOLE DAYS! Grandma retired 5 years ago after playing the piano and organ for worship at the Winkler Bergthaler Church nearly every Sunday for 65 years... yes, you read that right... and conducting innumerable Ladies Choirs, German Choirs, Senior Choirs, Childrens Choirs, Christmas Choirs... and when she and grandpa used to go down to Arizona for the winters she'd organize choirs of "snowbirds" to conduct down there.

As a child I was always fascinated by the fact that she played the piano and accordion with the pinky finger on one hand cut off at the second knuckle... a childhood injury that never slowed her down. I'm proud to say I still have her accordion (bought for her by her dad, K.H. Neufeld, at a used music store in Winnipeg sometime in the 40s)... and as you can hear on the zydeco tune "How Do You Know?" on the new CD, it's still getting used (although I want to play it more).

Grandma Goertzen came to my concert in Altona... the first time she's seen me "do my thing" now that this is "what I do"... and that was a special and emotional moment for me...

Thank you, grandmas. I want to be like you.

concerted efforts

2009-09-23T13:43:00.000-04:00

It had been a long time since my parents had been to one of my concerts... and last weekend they went to all three. Thankfully, when you’re doing concerts for “small and tall” together, every night is an adventure and no two events are the same.

Friday night in Winnipeg there were LOTS of children, including lots of very young children. This makes for lots of energy... and a particular kind of energy... and means that the concert can go in many different directions, but there are definitely a bunch of directions that it can’t go. Lose a crowd like that, and it can be very tough to get them back... so it definitely keeps you on your toes.

Saturday night in Altona was a considerably smaller group, with few children, and the children that were there were somewhat older. This group also happened to be remarkably quiet, and sang along gently, rather than boisterously, even during some of the more rowdy stuff. So that concert went in some quite different, more “reflective” directions.

And Sunday night in Steinbach was a mixed age group that participated and sang boisterously and enthusiastically, but most of the children were school-aged and were also able and interested to listening to some story-telling and reflective songs as well as the more active and funny ones.

Different again was the “Sunday School singing” with the grades 4-6 children at Douglas Mennonite Church, and leading congregational singing during worship (including the first few rows of very young children who aren’t usually there during that worship hour)... I hadn’t been back to Douglas for a Sunday morning since for over 6 years, when we moved to Ontario and I transitioned from the youth ministry I was doing there to pursuing this music ministry full time. Wonderful to be back.

Every place, every group, every event, every day is different, and there are plenty of songs to sing. What could be better?

vancouver bound

2009-09-21T11:00:00.002-04:00

Packing up and off to the train in an hour for the next leg of the journey... hopefully on the train I'll be able to do some more writing about this past weekends' experiences (there have been plenty!), and then I'll post them when I get to BC.

safe and sound in winnipeg-land

2009-09-18T00:55:00.005-04:00

Although I boarded the train Tuesday night, this trip began on Sunday with a Sunday School concert with the good folks at Heise Hill and then back to Stouffville in time for my home church to "commission" me. They sent me out by singing the words of my own "Sending Song" back to me...

"As you go out from here, may the Lord go with you
The face of God shine on you every day
We are sent by God wherever we are living
Salt and light as people of the Way."

A wonderful way to start the trip.

The GO bus was late enough to make me nervous I'd miss the train, so J and M drove me in to Union Station in Toronto. The train ride from TO to Winnipeg was the smoothest and most on-time that I've ever seen on that route... met some interesting traveling companions, like Mauricio from Venezuela, Andrew from London, England, and a composer - why do I keep finding composers on the trains? - from Holland.

Today I've been enjoying my parents' company, and Mom's bean soup and vereniki with Winkler farmer sausage, and a walk to Sargent Sundaes for ice cream.

New strings on the guitar... tomorrow it's singing time!

9000 km 24 hours earlier than expected

2009-09-14T10:33:00.002-04:00

I know the title for this post is incomprehensible, but it does sound kind of dramatic, don't you think? The underlying facts being:

1) I will soon embark on another long-distance riding-the-rails-to-sing-my-songs odyssey, this time from Toronto to Vancouver and back (back-of-envelope calculations with the numbers on the VIA railroad map yield the 9000 km figure... just over 9000 km, actually). Articles like this and this have begun popping regarding said trip...

2) Julie astutely pointed out that Sept. 15, the date on my train ticket for my departure from Union Station, is not in fact Wednesday (which is what I've been telling everyone for some time), but Tuesday.

Needless to say I've got a few things to do before then... so my next post will likely be from Winnipeg (you can see my almost-up-to-date itinerary here)...

stubborn, principled, or just plain dumb?

2009-09-10T11:07:00.012-04:00

Let's say, just for argument's sake, that you went downtown and obediently paid for two hours of parking, had a great lunch/meeting with a friend/colleague, returned to your car an hour and 53 minutes later, and found a parking ticket on your windshield, time-stamped 25 minutes earlier, stating that you have committed a parking infraction and are hereby fined $30.

And let's say that the three options you are given are to 1) pay the fine, 2) a second option of which I don't recall the details but which also involved paying the fine, or 3) dispute the charge, which means requesting a court date. No other options.

Now, let's imagine for a moment that you're kind of ticked at receiving a parking ticket that is so obviously inaccurate, and you really don't want to pay it. But at the same time, going through the hassle of disputing it will take more time and energy, as well as gasoline, to get down to the "parking tag operations" office to dispute the claim in person. Surely that time and effort is worth more than $30.

And yet... the "conspiracy theory" part of your brain starts kicking into gear... isn't this just a great scam? A bit too convenient? Write obviously erroneous parking tickets, calculate how many people will pay up just because that's the quickest and most convenient option, and - presto - new income for the City of Toronto! Can (should) they really get away with that?

With such thoughts rolling through my head, I drive down to the "Parking Tag Operations" office (yes, it's true, as you've astutely guessed... this situation is not as hypothetical as I've made it sound) and look for a parking spot. A very popular and busy building, it seems, with - you guessed it - only paid parking. So I'll need to pay for parking to go to an office to dispute ANOTHER parking ticket, which was so obviously and comically erroneous that I'm beginning to seriously suspect that the minute I park (and pay) someone is going to write me ANOTHER spurious ticket, just to add to the fun.

Forget it. I'm not paying for parking to dispute my parking ticket. So I drive around the neighbourhood, looking for a street where I can park for free and walk a few blocks. After a few circles and (illegal?) U-turns, I find a spot. I think. It's not clearly marked.

Great. If I park here to dispute my parking ticket, I might get an even bigger ticket... or get towed away...

Too late for debate. I'm committed now. Hold your breath, park the car, walk briskly down the street and into the building.

Into a room, steaming with humanity and signs instructing me to take a number and wait in line. Another opportunity to do the calculation of whether this is all worthwhile... and then a tired-and-irritated looking man (actually, we all look tired-and-irritated) said "parking ticket?"

"Yeah."

"You don't want to be here. Go down the hall and turn left."

"Oh... thanks," and, hope restored, I walk down the hallway.

Only to enter another room, with another, slightly less dense, steaming mass of humanity waiting in line. All - every single one - to dispute a parking ticket.

OK. This is getting sillier by the moment. It's 30 bucks, after all. Cut your losses and get out of there.

But no, I'm in too deep now. I've got to see this thing through.

So I stand, and wait, and wait... And wait. I notice a stack of "Notice of Intent To Appear" forms, which everyone else has. So I grab one and fill it out, and begin lending out my pen to various other folks to do the same. Surveying the room, I can identify various folks visibly farther down the road to "blowing a gasket" than me... including some who start muttering and uttering rude and insulting remarks, speaking threateningly of "linejumpers," playing to the crowd with comments about "stupidity" and "incompetence"... Others wait quietly and long-sufferingly...

My self-righteous-and-principled indignation begins to dissipate as I read the various signs alerting me that intimidating behaviour, shouting, profanity, etc. is not to be tolerated and may result in not being attended. And I start to look at the folks on the other side of the glass entirely differently, thinking how much I would HATE to have their job... how depressing this must be, to come to work and deal with masses of tired-and-irritated people like me, all day, every day.

As the sounds of people arguing about the inanity of this-and-that roll on, and the man in front of me explains to me why he's disputing his $450 ticket, I'm feeling more foolish by the minute. I compare my $30 ticket to the struggles and dangers of people dealing with real injustices at the hands of official-dom all around the world... I resolve not to cause any problems or delays - just hand the lady my form, get my receipt-or-whatever-it-is, and go. After all, this is already taking WAY longer than I expected, I'm hoping my car won't get towed, and I don't know how I'm going to get the day's stuff done before I have to get back and make supper.

As I'm jogging back down the street toward (hopefully) my parked car, I realize that I forgot to ask my question: "The times on this parking ticket, and on my receipt, clearly show that I did not in fact, commit a parking infraction. Do I really have to go to court to dispute this? Can't I show it to someone, and they'll dismiss it, and we'll save the whole system a big hassle?"

Can't believe I forgot to ask that. How stupid of me. As stupid as... as... as a traffic cop having a bad day and misreading the time-stamp on the parking receipt on somebody's dashboard...?

The car was still there, with no ticket flapping under the windshield wiper.

And then I discover, 4 days later, as I write this blog post and check a website or two, that "You may discuss your concern regarding the issuance of the ticket with a counter staff member, who has the authority to... (among other things)... withdraw the charge under certain circumstances."

Boy, do I feel dumb now.

new cd has arrived!

2009-09-02T22:20:00.002-04:00

It's here! Hooray! Have a look...

SOCAN and radio

2009-08-26T10:17:00.003-04:00

Radio play has never been (and still isn't) a significant part of my strategy or "business plan" for my SmallTall Music ministry. While it's fun and kind of validating when somebody in radio-land picks up on your stuff, I haven't been counting on it and tend to consider it as a nice little surprise when it happens. As you already know if you've been reading this blog for a while or have explored my various archived musings, I've been focusing my energies on (and having a lot of fun with) other "alternative business models"... Have a look at the posts in the "Community Supported Music" label, if you'd like...

That said, for the new CD and tour that's coming soon (VERY soon), I am partnering with some radio folks in some interesting ways. Golden West Broadcasting contributed toward the recording project and tour support for my upcoming Western Canada tour, and I know they'll be playing some of my stuff on some of their stations across the prairies.

And WhiStle Radio here in Stouffville is partnering with me to put on a home-town CD release concert on December 4th in the new "19 On The Park" theatre venue in town... looking forward to that too.

So I thought, hey, now that I'm about to release my 4th studio album, maybe it's time to finally register with SOCAN. So I did. Kind of a neat feeling, actually, to now be a member of the "Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada," and to have a "catalogue" of 54 of my songs "registered" with them.

agreed

2009-08-17T16:12:00.002-04:00

Here's the most thoughtful reflection on our music-making work in Paraguay that I've seen online so far...

And here are some pics from the MWC photographers... and here are some from my roomie and fellow mutli-instrumentalist/percussionist Carlos...

Maybe I'll post a few of my own sometime when I get around to it...

it's off!

2009-08-14T11:18:00.002-04:00

The new CD is done! Took the master in yesterday, signed off on the design, and away it goes to be pressed, printed, poked, prodded... The initial run of 1000 copies should be in my hands by the end of the month...

there and back again

2009-07-31T16:16:00.003-04:00

Yep. I was in Paraguay, part of the music team leading singing at the Mennonite World Conference Assembly there. A great experience, and met and made many dear friends from all around the world.

And now J+M are back from their major trip as well, and we're settling into the rented townhouse that is our new home in Stouffville.

And I'm a few days away from finalizing the mixes and the graphic design for the new CD.

So, yeah, it's been busy. And good.

the shiver test

2009-07-03T21:28:00.002-04:00

The "shiver test" has become a very reliable way for me to evaluate a song that I've recorded. When we get it right, and I am really moved by a song (mine or someone else's), I literally get shivers up and down my back.

Today we finished preliminary mixes of all the songs for the new CD. "Shiver test" results? EVERY SINGLE SONG, at one point or another.

And listening yet again in the car on the way home I found myself weeping. Sleep deprivation (from too long spent in the manic stage of the recording/mixing process, not sleeping at night because of loops of songs playing endlessly in my head)...? Inexpressible relief (that it seems like this record is actually going to get finished and be good)...? Overwhelming gratitude (for the amazingly gifted people that have made these songs sound way better than they have any business sounding)...? Moved and comforted and challenged and encouraged by the songs themselves...?

All of the above, I think.

By the way, I'll be on summer blogging schedule from here on in... less frequent and more sporadic than my once-per-week non-summer pattern... wishing you a wonderful summer... come on back for a visit now and then...

the gears they are a-changin'

2009-06-25T10:44:00.003-04:00

Well, after a very good (and intense) weekend as part of the North America Stewardship Conference in Toronto (so many highlights... some powerful speakers... Bill Phipps' keynote address on the first night, and Rick Tobias on the next night particularly moved and inspired me), I'm now in the throes (throws?) of the final stages of recording for the new CD (recording some children's and group vocals here at home - last session in the studio this Saturday, with the flute/pennywhistle/clarinet player and hopefully the trombone and trumpet players as well)... and beginning work on the graphic design phase... while packing boxes for our impending move, and getting set for our various summer travels (I'll be heading to Paraguay for 2 weeks as part of the songleading team for the Mennonite World Conference Assembly there)...

And in a few minutes Matthew gets home from his last day as a grade 6 student... looking forward to celebrating that with him as well...

Summer's here!

how many styles in a week?

2009-06-11T21:51:00.003-04:00

... let's see...

Thursday morning - recording some bluegrass for the new CD with Darren and Rick at CedarTree.

Friday night - all-ages concert in Alma

Saturday night - performing some Cuban and Andean music with Amos, and jamming with South African jazz musicians at the "World Music Collaborative Concert" at the "Sound in the Lands" festival

Sunday morning - accompanying congregational singing, led by Julie, with our church community

Tuesday night - recording some Amos Lopez originals in our kitchen

Wednesday morning - laying down some accordion parts and pretending to be a Cajun player at another recording session for the new disc...

All in a week's work. Whew! Good fun.

upcoming stuff

2009-06-02T09:11:00.004-04:00

I'm involved in some upcoming events that you might want to participate in (you're warmly invited!) if you're in the area:

- this Thursday (June 4) - the Sound in the Lands conference begins, and guess who they have listed as presenting the first workshop...? (Hint: it's on "Community Supported Music: An Alternative Business Model for the Arts")
- also Thursday - Mennofolk (I'll not be performing, but lots of great folks from far and wide will be)
- Friday evening - I'll be doing a concert at Alma United Church in Elora
- Saturday evening - I'll be accompanying Amos Lopez (who arrives from Cuba this afternoon) as part of the "World Music Collaborative Concert" at the Sound in the Lands conference
- Friday, June 19th, I'll be leading worship in the morning at the North America Stewardship Conference in Toronto (here are the presenters at that conference), and doing a concert there in the evening.

In the midst of all that I need to get my May "delivery of songs" out to the members of SmallTall Music (yes, it'll be a few days late this time)... and do a bunch more sessions with different musicians to finish recording the new studio album so that it can be in the mixing stage by the time I leave in July to be part of the songleading team at the Mennonite World Conference Assembly... for which I still need to get a visa (a little something I overlooked)...

Yikes!

It feels kind of daunting at the moment... but at the same time, I'm also very grateful... it's what I love to do... and it's wonderful to have so many vivid experiences of being part of a global "body" together...

in awe

2009-05-28T10:58:00.003-04:00

Recording the new album is going so well, and I'm having so much fun doing it, and I'm in such awe of the incredible musicians that are collaborating with me on this project... I'm having trouble thinking about anything else.

friends converging on "sound in the lands"

2009-05-20T13:54:00.004-04:00

I noticed on Trevor's blog that he posted the "abstract" of what he'll be presenting at the "Sound in the Lands" conference... sounds interesting, and it looked like a good idea, so I thought I'd do the same and post the "abstract" of my presentation at the conference as well:

Community Supported Music: An Alternative Business Model For The Arts

In this digital age it has become a truism that “the music industry is in trouble,” and there has been an explosion of “innovative” approaches to the creation, marketing and distribution of music. My presentation will articulate an alternative business model for the arts that is based on a different set of assumptions than the “tour! tour! tour! sell! sell! sell!” mainstream model. The “Community Supported Music” (or CSM) approach is built on the “Community Supported Agriculture” (CSA) model, a different way of structuring the relationship between “producer” and “consumer” as partners in a vital community process. Having operated a CSM since 2006, my presentation will invite reflection on the potential of this model for artists seeking to live out their artistic vocation in a way that is more healthy and sustainable in personal, relational, spiritual, ecological, and economic terms.

In addition to the afore-mentioned Trevor, I've also heard tell of other friends from far and wide who are coming to partake in the festivities, not to mention many more from closer by (some of whom will be performing at Mennofolk as well).

Amos Lopez, a friend from Cuba, will also be coming, staying with us for a few days, making a presentation and singing some songs, and I believe the plan is that I'll join him for a few. He also sent me an e-mail suggesting we go into a studio for a day and record an album together. A bit startling, but a rather refreshing approach, it seems to me, as I'm in the midst of a very different kind of recording process...

Anyway, we'll see what happens. Should be interesting.

newsflash: macs crash too

2009-05-14T11:32:00.004-04:00

I guess they won't be inviting me to be on one of those smug "PCs crash but of course Macs never do" commercials...

Got the call this morning that I'll be getting a brand-spanking-new hard drive for my Macbook, courtesy of AppleCare. Considering my well-known (at least to my family and a few close friends) inclination to throw offending technology out the window (physically) when it doesn't work as it should, I think I'm holding up pretty well.

Don't get me wrong. I still like my Mac, I've certainly been more than impressed with the AppleCare folks each and every time I've needed to contact them (yes, it has been a few times), and I am grateful for the relatively hassle-free way this process seems to be unfolding (so far)...

This morning I took advantage of my suddenly-and-unexpectedly-more-available-time to write a new song and do an archaeological dig on my desktop (the physical one). I had forgotten what it looked like a few layers down...

song circle

2009-05-13T09:20:00.002-04:00

This past weekend, after a session at the studio on Saturday (more on that later), we were in London, Ontario with Valleyview Mennonite Church and dear friends Kendall and Charleen... and we got to meet little Tobias (12 weeks old) and be part of his dedication service. A very joyful occasion!

On Saturday we did a "song circle" with some worship leaders, song leaders, christian education leaders, and other interested folks. This was the second time I've done this (the first was here in the Markham-Stouffville area), and I'd like to do lots more. An informal evening exploring the songs they've been receiving as members of SmallTall Music. It's always fun to see the light bulbs go off as people catch on to what's going on with this music... and as we explore different ways that we can sing together...

And the refreshments and conversation afterward were great too!

a different place

2009-05-07T12:19:00.007-04:00

This was a different kind of weekend, as I had 5 different sessions with folks from Trinity Mennonite Church just south of Calgary. That's more than I often do in a congregational weekend, and I was also rather surprised that quite a number of the same people showed up to all 5 events! What a difference it makes when there's a chance to get to know people better, and to have more than one chance to connect with them through the music...

It also made me realize just how limited I've had to become in my song selection for my typical one-hour "all-ages interactive concert." By contrast, over the course of this weekend - according to some quick back-of-the-envelope math - we probably did 35 different original songs...

I know this is no big deal for people that have been doing this for a long time, but for me it was something of a revelation... not to mention lots of fun.

A particular highlight was the session that I was most hazy and uncertain (and anxious) about. Saturday night was billed as an "informal singing time with Bryan" - and I wasn't at all sure what that meant, since I'd done a "concert" the night before (which, of course, included plenty of "singing along"), and was going to be leading singing during Sunday school the next morning, as well as speaking/singing during the worship service... so I didn't want to repeat myself or "steal my own thunder"...

Anyway, I didn't really know what to expect, but people brought their instruments, and their voices - it was a much bigger group than I expected - and we had a blast singing and playing whatever the people wanted to sing, with a few of my originals thrown in here and there for some variety and to get people moving and to give them more time to come up with another favourite. Three pre-teen girls naturally took on leadership in a few of the songs, and that was great to see/hear.

And Shannon brought her flute and accompanied and played a solo on the new bossa nova (it's going on the new CD - can't wait for you to hear it!), and WOW! I was blown away.

What a treat, and a blessing.

nice to hear

2009-04-28T09:52:00.002-04:00

Apparently MPN's "Catch The Spirit" 2009 VBS curriculum has been selected as a "Top Pick" by the Center for the Ministry of Teaching of Virginia Theological Seminary (CMT)... The article says that "the Center’s evaluation highlights the curriculum’s focus on worship and the original music by Mennonite composer Bryan Moyer Suderman as particular strengths."

Nice to hear...

new recording and "upper body injury"

2009-04-22T10:34:00.008-04:00

NHL hockey players are not the only "tough guys" that battle through physical injuries during the grueling "second season" of the Stanley Cup Playoffs... it turns out that recording artists occasionally have to "take one for the team" as well...

Last week we began the recording sessions for my new CD (the 4th to be released on my SmallTall Music label), and I'm very excited about it! So excited that it seems I somehow injured my shoulder (was it the vigorous guitar playing all day Monday as Darren laid down those drum tracks...? Or the continuous tossing of various backpacks and instruments over my right shoulder while getting on and off buses to get back home after the session? Or perhaps it has something to do with my now 40-year-old body and all those tennis games over the weekend - the first of the spring...)

Anyway, I find myself nursing what the doctor calls (please pardon the melodramatic medical jargon) a "mild shoulder sprain"... trying my best to ice it regularly and down enough anti-inflammatories so that I can play through the injury and heroically head into tomorrow's recording session and fight through the pain to do a bunch of guitar tracks...

It's tough being a tough guy, but I'll do my best. Better watch some more playoff hockey, to draw inspiration from those that grind it out and give 110% and play it one game at a time and leave it all on the ice and don't let such minor things as broken bones and facial scarring get in the way of a good playoff run... and if I can avoid fisticuffs in the studio, that would be great too (so far so good), although Rick at CedarTree Studios has been telling stories of various bands (such as The Police) for whom such activities were all in a day's work and part of "the creative process." Maybe I should give it a try.

But then again, given my lack of success with such basic macho requirements as a "playoff beard," maybe not... I can only carry this "tough guy recording artist" image so far...

In fact, maybe I should go the other way and try getting in touch with my "sensitive side"...

Which reminds me, where did I put that ice pack?

location of a song

2009-04-13T21:00:00.002-04:00

Two weeks ago I was part of a fundraising concert for MCEC youth traveling to the Mennonite World Conference Assembly this July in Paraguay, where I'll be part of the music team. It was a fun evening - a real treat to play with amazing musicians as part of a band, which I don't get the chance to do very often. And four of my songs that we did that night felt right "at home" in that place - "You're Not Alone" (a solidarity song with suffering brothers and sisters around the world), "Prayer of Agur," "To Be Content," and "Tengan La Mente De Cristo" - a new song I wrote in traditional Andean Huayno style, as a setting for the theme text from Philippians 2:5-11.

Then last weekend I played at the Latcham Gallery here in Stouffville - a really cool event called "what does a piece of art sound like?" where local musicians are invited to write and/or choose and perform a musical piece inspired by one of the artworks showing in the gallery. This is the second time I've participated - these events are the brain-child of Marie-Lynn Hammond - and I think it's a great idea, and a fascinating exercise in "locating" a song (here's a little YouTube video with clips from the different performances). I did the instrumental "Off The Grid" and "Not For Human Consumption" which connect in various ways to a couple of the paintings... next time I hope to get to the gallery earlier and be able to try writing something new based on one of the artworks.

And this past Sunday, Easter morning, I was with the Iglesia Menonite Nueva Vida in Toronto. It's been a long time (well over a year, I think), and as always it was lots of fun and very inspirational to be with that community again. And, thanks to my being confused (again) about the time the service got underway, I was actually able to finish writing the song I had hoped to use that morning - "Rumores de Resurreccion" - and there was something special about writing that song "in location" where we would be worshiping, with that song among others, in that very space. Somehow it was easier to connect with that community by being physically in that space while writing that song.

So I guess songwriting does have something in common with real estate. Location, location, location.

maundy what?

2009-04-09T21:12:00.002-04:00

Today is Maundy Thursday. But you'd never know it by the lack of liturgical rigour at our house this season.

In any case, wishing you a blessed Easter.

friends on the radio

2009-04-04T20:31:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Stuart MacLean played a song by Judith and Simon ("The Land") on The Vinyl Cafe... this past week I heard an interview with The Waking Eyes on Q (Joey of The Waking Eyes has played bass on all three of my SmallTall Music CDs)... and tomorrow morning Alan and Aiden ("Stringer Lake") are going to be featured on Fresh Air.

And just when I was starting to feel left out I got a note from Tony Copple saying that he's going to be playing my "There's a Jubilee a-Comin'" song tomorrow on his "Over My Head" show in Ottawa.

pulled in two directions

2009-04-01T10:18:00.003-04:00

As we get started on recording the new SmallTall Music CD (Yippee!!), I find myself pulled in two (at least) directions.

I had a conversation with a close friend last week who said "I don't know if I'm ready for a new CD from you yet, Bryan... I think the last one is so important, and relevant... I'd like to see you ride that one a while longer, and get it into more people's hands and hearts... I'd be sad to see you move on from that material already..."

This would be one representative voice from the camp that has been particularly moved by the songs I've written that are more "adult oriented", that lean more toward the "tall" than the "small"... and that have been encouraging me to write and record more in that vein...

And then there is another friend with a small child who recently told me "I hope your next CD will have some more songs that are fun and playful again..." This would be a representative voice from the camp that regularly tells me things like this: "I have been looking and looking for good Christian music for my children (or "for the children I teach/lead"), and I've been so discouraged by what I find... until I found your stuff. Thank you so much! Songs that are fun and engaging and easy to sing along with, that express a theology that I can support and feel good about..."

The other night I got together with "the band" to explore the new batch of songs that we'll be recording in the next two months, and again it is a real mix of "songs for small AND tall"... some are really fun, rather quirky, with some delightfully silly moments (I've been having fun with these in concert already), and others are more reflective and a couple are fairly dark - one that is even quite "apocalyptic" in its imagery, and another that is an expression of deep pain and hurt.

Can I get away with putting all these songs on one album?

This is not the "conventional wisdom" of how "the music business" - or even how the world of "Christian ministry resources" - works. I really have not been able to find a better label for my music than "songs of faith for small and tall," because that is EXACTLY what they are. The new CD will have songs that are guitar-based folky, a few that are piano-driven, others that are bluesy, jazzy, one that might be bluegrass...

Is it "children's music?" "Christian contemporary?" Gospel? Folk/Roots? Something else?

Too bad iTunes and music awards don't categorize artists by theology, ecclesiology, and missiology rather than by "genre"...

In any case, I continue to be pulled in different directions, as from a "marketing" perspective I'm sure it would be more "effective" to pick a "category" and release songs that way... and yet I continue to resist that approach, because what I do really is for the CHURCH, which is an intergenerational body, and I continue to be driven by the question "what do we need to SING together?"

If you have any thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them.

songs sound different now

2009-03-25T10:06:00.010-04:00

In recent performances it's been a running joke, when I play the title track and other songs from the "My Money Talks" CD, that "little did we know, way back in 2005-2007 when we were working on this project, that it would so quickly become dated and irrelevant... that nobody would be thinking or talking about economics anymore..."

Ha ha. Not much of a joke, I know.

Quite a number of those songs sound different to me now. I realize, when I was researching and writing and working on the album, I was approaching the task largely from the point of view of "what do affluent North American Christians need to hear? What do we need to SING? What is God trying to tell us, if only we'd have ears to hear...?"

As I read and thought and prayed and researched and conversed and wrote, I felt in many ways like another voice from the "fringes," trying to call attention to the reality that our fossil-fuel addicted, uber-endebted, hyper-consumerist way of life is not healthy, not sustainable, not in tune with God's intentions for the world... and that it will not last.

And I was trying not only to call attention to that reality, but to articulate (and to find new settings for Scriptures that articulate) the possibility of another reality, another way of living that can be more in tune with the health of the environment, the health of our communities and families and bodies... more in tune with God's intentions for the world... more full of joy and community and meaning...

"I want to live a different kind of story
I want to find another way
A way to live without this constant worry
So you can year my say... My money talks..."

(you can listen to the song here)

Now it seems that what once seemed like "fringe" analysis from various sub-cultures and counter-cultures has become surprisingly mainstream. In my train travels over the past month I was amazed how often I heard - in conversation with people, and in overheard conversations between others - the terms "climate change" and "fossil fuels" and "sustainability" and so on. Mainstream newspapers and broadcasts talking regularly about "living beyond our means" and the hazards of "consumer debt" and the new acceptability (and even trendiness) of "old-fashioned" ideas like "thrift" and "local food" and "cooking at home." I saw wind farms in Montana, read an article on the Amtrak's "Arrive" magazine between Boston and New York all about Community Supported Agriculture and alternative energy sources...

This strikes me as good news. And yet I'm also struck by a fairly broadly held and barely suppressed (and sometimes expressed) sense of guilt and anxiety and near-despair. The two video-game designers from Seattle on their way to a ski weekend, talking about their sense of guilt as artists working on war games (one designs the "worlds" and the other is a "weapons and vehicles" specialist)... The trucker from Montana talking about pollution and climate change and "we really should learn to live with less" and "why the world hates us so much"... Myself, living the contradictions by touring all across the continent (by train - hopefully a somewhat "greener and more efficient choice) while professing concern about carbon emissions and sustainability...

There now seems to be an abundance of analysis and debate - even in mainstream media and society - about what is wrong and unsustainable about our current economic systems and structures and patterns. And there is more and more grassroots movement toward change in some significant ways (the dramatic growth of the "local food" movement being one example). And yet I'm finding it hard to get a "read" on whether we are in fact on the brink of transformative change in a more hopeful and sustainable direction, or whether the newly "mainstream" analysis and macro-initiatives are merely co-opting some of the language of that "alternative" thinking in a frantic effort to prop up a system that is not going to last.

Back to the songs. I'm finding that "My Money Talks" feels very different when I sing it now... "wondering how to make the payments on her home" in a context of so many foreclosures and layoffs and unemployment. The element of "trust" in "I Can Give With Joy" and "Speak To The Rock" speak with a different king of poignancy when we sing those songs together. "To Be Content," a song I hardly sang at all when the CD first came out because I was terrified it would be misunderstood and misused (by relatively affluent people telling others - "you should learn to be content with what you have"), is one that I seem to be singing more often again, as I find more and more people - in the midst of hard economic times - taking those words from Philippians - "I have learned to be content" - as important and meaningful for them. "Take Good Care," which still feels and sounds strident to me sometimes, but also seems to be heard and received - perhaps increasingly - not just as a critique and a challenge but as an invitation.

I find myself cringing at this line in another song from that collection... "may my choices declare... You are the Lord of each investment I make..."

And the "Prayer of Agur" continues to strike a chord...

What do you think? How have the current economic realities been changing the songs YOU sing, and the way you sing them?

What do we need to be singing now?

how can you tell...?

2009-03-17T16:02:00.005-04:00

Top 10 signs that Bryan's back from tour:

10) blogging is back to its normal once-a-week-I-have-a-life-you-know rhythm

9) the smell of burnt grilled cheese sandwiches wafting through the air

8) spotted wearing something other than those 2 all-purpose tour shirts

7) father-son competition for household airwaves (Guitar Hero vs. CD collection)

6) refresher (remedial?) course in "where things go in the kitchen" and "which items go in which recycling bin"

5) back to daily rhythm of yerba mate at 3:00 pm

4) instruments and books again sprinkled like manna all over the apartment

3) first father-son session with the ball and gloves this spring, with attendant fervent and forlorn hopes for the Blue Jays

2) spousal celebration of safe return with an evening out (yes, a date!) enjoying Crooked Still at Hugh's Room

And the number 1 sign that Bryan's back from tour?

1) laundry

houses and fields, brothers and sisters everywhere

2009-03-11T17:26:00.005-04:00

I had finally figured out a train schedule that would work for that elusive jaunt from Washington DC (where I was leading worship in the morning) to Lancaster PA (where I was doing a concert in the evening). The train schedules have worked remarkably well this whole tour... except for this one day... these two cities looked so close on the map and - “well, it’s the east coast, I’m sure there’ll be lots of options”...

hmmm...

So I called on Sunday morning, just to confirm with the Lancaster folks that my train was scheduled to arrive at 5:55... and I was really REALLY hoping it would be on time so I could make it for the 7:00 concert... It was definitely too close for comfort, but I didn’t see any other option...

“Oh... but the concert is at 6:00.”

Gulp.

So off we went to the morning service, and I still didn’t know how I was going to make it to my evening performance... maybe I could take the train to Philly and rent a car from there (if I could find someplace open on a Sunday afternoon)...

As I was wolfing down a smallish portion of the delicious potluck spread after the service (in time to catch that train to Philly), Eric came over and said “Bryan, I’d like to drive you to Lancaster.”

I nearly choked on my pasta. “Really? You would do that?”

This past month of touring has been a miracle of generosity from start to finish. To each family who shared their home and their dinner table, to each person who gave part of their day (sometimes a large part) to get me to where I needed to go, to each one who planned and organized and put up posters, to each one who set up and ran sound, to each one who sang and smiled, to each one who prayed and supported in ways seen and unseen, I am so deeply grateful.

As this tour concludes (I'm writing this at the border stop at Niagara Falls, waiting to begin the last leg of the journey home), I feel like I have experienced Mark 10:29-30 again, and again, and again:

“Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age - houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions - and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

a multiplicity of musicians

2009-03-07T21:30:00.002-05:00

After that musical conversation with the brothers at Weston Priory...

Two nights ago in Charlottesville I did a joint concert with Jonathan, a singer-songwriter and good friend (we go back a long way, to riding around in the back of a pick-up truck as teenagers in Bolivia).

My contact person and coordinator-person-and-sound-tech-and-conversation guy for the Harrisonburg concert last night was Matthew, a composer.

Tonight I'm staying in the Washington DC area at the home of Adam and Maria - Adam is a hymn-text writer whose first book of hymns is being published by GIA very shortly (he showed me the proofs. He also showed me a couple of my songs that have been published in a new John Bell book of "global songs for children" and the new Church Hymnal 4th Edition of the Church of Scotland... I hadn't seen them there yet...)

And you thought I was touring as a "solo musician"...! Ha!

singing with the brothers of Weston Priory

2009-03-05T14:51:00.003-05:00

The evening before I left Vermont we worshipped at the Weston Priory and then had supper with the brothers there - a silent meal, with one of the brothers reading out loud from a recent book of biblical/theological scholarship (I'm afraid I can't remember the title) - and then, when the prior rang the bell, a burst of robust conversation.

After the dishes are done the brothers have an hour of recreation before evening prayers, and we all gathered in a room (which was the original farm house when the Priory was founded in 1953) to talk and sing together. The Weston Priory is known for many things, including their music - the music they use in their liturgies has grown out of and been written by members of their community over the years, and is available to order or download.

What an honour and a delight to meet them and worship with them and sing with them (they were eager to hear as many of my songs as we could squeeze into the time we had). One body with many members indeed!

hearty vermonters...

2009-03-03T11:05:00.003-05:00

... could not be stopped from coming out to the Londonderry concert on Sunday night (with a snowstorm imminent) or the house concert last night (after a full day of constant snowfall, and very icy roads). Hearty and kind and generous folk... an astonishing number of whom signed up for my Community Supported Music initiative...

And if you're going to be snowed in somewhere, can you imagine a more beautiful place to be? (This is the "little cabin in the woods" where I'm being hosted by Carol and Delores, who have been dear friends of our family for - let's see - about 28 years now - beginning in Cochabamba, Bolivia, when I was 12 years old, and learning to play guitar by watching Carol's fingers on her ukilele and singing all the songs we knew...)

What a gift!

riding on the MTA with "Charlie"

2009-02-27T22:42:00.005-05:00

Let me tell you of a story of a man named Charlie
on that tragic and fateful day
He put 10 cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family,
went to ride on the MTA...

But did he ever return? No he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned...

That's the beginning of the classic Kingston Trio song that I grew up singing... and today I got to be a tourist in Boston, and to "ride on the MTA" (although now it's called the "MBTA" - Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority - or just "the T"). In fact, I used Jon Paul's "Charlie Ticket," which is what they call the transit pass (named after the song, of course).

Anyway, a fun day - a ride on the "T" into Back Bay station, a visit to the Boston Public Library (incredible), a walk down "Commonwealth Avenue" (or "Comm Ave as Bostonians say it) to the Public Garden and Boston Common...

Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square Station
And he changed for Jamaica Plain
When he got there the conductor told him "one more nickel"
Charlie couldn't get off of that train!

But did he ever return? No he never returned...

I walked the "Freedom Trail" through historic Boston... don't get me started... it was great...

Now all night long Charlie rides through the station
Crying "What will become of me?
How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea
Or my cousin in Roxbury?"

But did he ever return? No he never returned...

I can't tell you how much pleasure it gave me to actually see and experience that all those specific place names (Kendall Square Station, Jamaica Plain, Chelsea, Roxbury...) that I've been singing for years are REAL PLACES...

Charlie's wife goes down to the Scully Square station
Every day at quarter past two
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich
As the train comes rumblin' through!

But did he ever return? No he never returned...

And then I also rode the "T" up to Harvard Square and walked around there, soaking up the different kind of energy and being accosted by various Greenpeace street evangelists... good for them...

So you citizens of Boston, don't you think it's a scandal
How the people have to pay and pay?
Fight the fare increase! Vote for George O'Brian!
Get poor Charlie off the MTA!

Or else he'll never return, oh he'll never return...

And then, get this. Tonight I did a house concert, and we closed out the evening with a rousing rendition of this "Charlie on the MTA" song - when else do I get a chance to do this song in concert, with people who would know EXACTLY where and what it's about?

And a man who came to the concert tonight told me that his father used to work for Columbia Records in Boston during the Kingston Trio era. It turns out that when they made up the publicity posters for the song, THIS MAN'S DAD was the one who portrayed "Charlie" in the posters...! What would that have been - 40 years ago?

Can you believe that?!

Anyhow, my day as a "tourist in Boston" is now over, and the pace of this tour is going to pick up dramatically as I'm doing 4 events in the next 4 days, and 9 in the next 11 days. So far it's been a lot of travel, and a little performing. Now it'll be much smaller distances, and a lot more performing.

And not to worry. Despite my obvious passion for - and now personal association with - this song, I don't think I'm in danger of sharing Charlie's fate...

Or else he'll never return, no he'll never return
And his fate is still unlearned.
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned...

journey within a journey within a journey

2009-02-25T22:11:00.003-05:00

Tonight I participated in the Ash Wednesday service at Union Congregational Church here in East Walpole, Massachusetts. Starting a new journey - the journey of Lent - in the midst of this journey of rails and songs... which is, of course, only a small part of a journey that's so much longer and larger, and that is itself contained and participating in another that is so much greater still...

And again I find myself overwhelmed by the generous gift - and gifts - of so many companions on this (these) journey(s)... Dan and Terri and Ruth in Minneapolis, and now Abby and Jon Paul and Josiah and Isaac who have opened their homes to me and made me feel so cared for and part of the family... Eugene back home who took the time tonight for a special evening of sports-watching with Matthew whose Dad is too far away...

I may be riding on a single-passenger ticket, but I'm far from traveling alone. A good thing to remember at the beginning of Lent.

laughing and crying on an eastbound train

2009-02-24T12:32:00.002-05:00

... near Rochester, New York.

The reason? Reading Wendell Berry's collection of stories, "That Distant Land."

Terrific.

Now back to work... writing up the reflections to go with the February "delivery of songs," which I hope to post (in February) while I'm in Boston...

view from the train part 2 (northwestern montana)

2009-02-22T23:15:00.003-05:00

Too tired to write tonight. Felt good about the concert in Mountain Lake MN this afternoon. Back on the train Boston-bound tomorrow morning. More soon.

some things i learned in seattle

2009-02-20T18:10:00.009-05:00

- 30% of homeless men in Seattle (and apparently this holds true nation-wide) are military veterans. (I had no idea. I wonder how this compares with Canada).

- Jonathan and Melanie and the Seattle Mennonite Church are doing good and important work with the homeless in the Lake City area, where there are very few services available. (SMC hosted my concert last night, and the "price of admission" was a non-perishable food item for the "drop-in" program.)

- A few members of the "drop-in" community on Lake City Way are songwriters. Within seconds of walking in the door, Angel asked me "are you the singer?" and launched into a song she wrote, and Niko spent a good part of the morning entertaining us with songs he's written about, and for, various local people.

- And here's what I'm guessing is the most expensive "home" in the city... it was introduced to me as "the biggest and most expensive single-use facility in North America"... a building that is used 7 days per year... 7 "home games" for the Seattle Seahawks football team...

... a few more minutes to take advantage of the free wireless internet at this coffee shop (it is Seattle, after all!), and then it's "all aboard" the "Empire Builder" for Minneapolis/St. Paul...

view from the train part 1 (Jasper to Kamloops)

2009-02-18T18:46:00.003-05:00

How is a guy supposed to get any work done - or even any reading - when this is what you're seeing out the window!

That last one is Mt. Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. I'm told you don't often get such a clear view.

And if I had a camera ready BEFORE Jasper I could have posted a picture of a mountain that looks exactly like Darth Vader... I kid you not...

Reminds me of the story Elwin told me in Didsbury... that he was listening to an "audio book" version of the King James Bible, read by James Earl Jones. He said that the production quality was so bad, it sounded like the Bible as read by Darth Vader.

I can hear it now... "The gospel according to... LUKE..."

not our finest hour

2009-02-18T16:37:00.001-05:00

“... and while all of this was happening, NOT EVEN ONE of these men over here got up to help!”

Squirm.

Let me back up just a bit. Last night a commotion woke me up (yes, fast asleep on the train).

“Hey - watch where you’re going!”

“He fell right on top of that lady! Are you ok?”

“You’ve been drinking.”

“He’s smoking - hey, no smoking allowed in here!”

“Get over there! No, this is my seat. Where’s you’re seat? Get over there!”

“And stop smoking - my son has asthma. I had to take him to the hospital last week...”

You get the picture.

Well, after all that (which, by my groggy estimation, might have taken 2 minutes, with about 3 different voices pitching in, along with the occasional mumble from the man shaking in the aisle), things seemed to settle down and the situation seemed under control. I wasn’t anxious to get involved. I went back to sleep.

To awake this morning to the sounds of a conversation with the VIA rail staff:

“... and while all this was happening, NOT EVEN ONE of these men over here got up to help.” An angry stare around the car.

Let me back up again, a bit further.

It’s a sunny and clear afternoon, and we’re rolling along west of Jasper. How is anybody supposed to get any work done with scenery like this rolling by outside?

“In about 20 minutes, if you turn around and look out the back you’ll have a really good view of Mt. Robson. It’s the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.”

A friendly off-and-on conversation ensued with someone who, it turns out, has worked on the railway all his life... pointing out the different spots where the Fraser, Thompson, and Columbia rivers start their long passage to the sea... telling us how far the salmon swim up the Fraser... an amiable soul on his way to visit his sick mother on Vancouver Island...

... and who a few hours later was squatting in the aisle, eyes glazed and squinting in confusion, sucking hard on a cigarette fragment pinched between shaking fingers.

The VIA attendant continued to listen: “... I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night, I was so worried. I looked for a staff person and couldn’t find any. I thought about shutting myself and my baby in the bathroom... and not even one of these men...”

I guess I should have gotten up and asked if everyone was ok. Or offered to go and search for a VIA employee. I wasn’t thinking about how the others were feeling as much as I was embarrassed for the friendly man I had met that afternoon...

And, of course, I was enjoying my sleep.

not at home and right at home

2009-02-17T01:21:00.005-05:00

The weekend in Didsbury went well - concert on Friday evening, workshop sessions on Friday night and Saturday, worship on Sunday. A moving and humbling experience to reflect with folks about economics and faith, and to hear their stories and questions and wisdom, and to be welcomed in to some very real experiences of pain and struggle and joy.

I continue to find my music most "at home" in congregational settings like this. This is what it's for, and this is where it does its best work.

This seemed even clearer to me after another experience - a lot of fun but for some reason rather disconcerting - at the songwriters open stage at Hulbert's Restaurant in Edmonton last night. This is a favourite and beloved place of Tim Chesterton, a self-described "Anabaptist Anglican" priest who also happens to have an encyclopedic knowledge of traditional British folk tunes, and who, together with his family, generously and graciously opened their home to me last night, and took me to the Sunday Night Open Stage where Tim regularly plays.

A lot of really great musicians - a couple of singer/songwriters with powerful lyrics and a whole bunch with amazing chops on the guitar - and I felt really awkward when I was introduced (with a considerable degree of amazement) as "a FULL-TIME WORKING MUSICIAN!"... as if that's some kind of holy grail, ever-sought but seldom found and never really believed...

This is definitely NOT where my music feels most "at home"... I wasn't sure what to play, so I played "Willowgrove Creek" and "Not for Human Consumption"... and judging by the polite applause and glassy handshakes I felt like they went over like a lead balloon...

Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed the evening, and listening to the different performers play. There is a very special sense of community that has been cultivated there. But it seems very clear to me that this is not where my own musical gift is most "at home"...

Anyway, a highlight this morning was sitting down with Tim and having the doors to the great land of DADGAD tuning opened wide before me... a whole new musical language in which he is fluent and in which I look forward to taking the first baby steps...

And after a delightful day reconnecting with friends here in Edmonton, in a few hours I'll board the train through the mountains to Vancouver. A spectacular ride, by all accounts. I'd better get some sleep.

bags packed, ready (almost) to go

2009-02-12T22:49:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow morning the cross-continental railroad odyssey begins... with a morning flight to Calgary (blush...). Looking forward to the weekend with the Bergthal Mennonite Church in Didsbury, and then off to Edmonton to hop the train to Seattle and then the trek east... although I won't have internet access on the train, I plan to post regularly throughout the tour... stay tuned...

smalltall studio sessions

2009-02-12T22:36:00.005-05:00

Just finished the recording sessions for the Year 4 Gather 'Round CD... check out this amazing recording facility... note the tremendous care taken to create a comfortable, informal, homey atmosphere... complete with dishes in the sink... (ok, don't look that closely...)

The sessions at Many Streams were fun too - that's where we recorded the drums, piano, and some guitar and lead vocals.

And how about all those SmallTall Recording Artists? Thanks Mara, Janine, Kenrich, Geralde, Elise, Samara, Susie, Matthew, Julie, Emily, Annika, Aiden, Charlene, Darren, John... it's a delight to make music with you all!

alien worker

2009-02-06T22:38:00.002-05:00

Hooray! I'm an "alien worker"!

So says the US Department of Homeland Security, on the P2 Nonimmigrant Worker visa that arrived today.

Which means I'll be able to ride the rails and sing songs south of the border, as planned.

Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Not a bad descriptor, really...

thanks - i needed that

2009-01-30T22:11:00.004-05:00

Came across these words the other day, and let's just say they pretty much "hit the nail on the head" for me right now... words I need to hear...

"The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"no time to read"

2009-01-24T20:09:00.009-05:00

I've never understood it when people tell me they have no time to read. The busier I get, and the more swamped with various projects and deadlines, the MORE I find myself reading. Those are the times when I'm most likely to come back from the library with a stack of books... some biographies, some histories, travel writing, new bestsellers, old novels... The times when I feel most overwhelmed by deadlines and anxious about the obvious impossibility of getting everything done - those are the times when I'm most likely to have trouble sleeping and then, of course - what choice do I have? - I spend even more time reading.

My favourite low-tech library technique (which I think began when we lived in Colombia, as I made my trek once a month to the English language library in the north end of Bogota for my "fix" of English reading material) - once I've found the book or books I came looking for - is to just walk down the aisles and read titles and grab whatever looks interesting. I used to be amazed at how much fascinating stuff I found this away. I'm no longer amazed - now I count on it.

Anyway, this well-worn pattern is definitely re-asserting itself. No sooner had I finished The Omnivore's Dilemma and the Long Emergency, with a Townes Van Zandt biography and another Robert Charles Wilson novel thrown in, than I find myself racing through that Obama biography in order to get to the new stack I brought home from the library today... all the while continually revising my list of train reading for the upcoming tour...

What's not so clear is how this fits with blogging, for which I am far more likely to use the "no time for..." line. Since blogging is a newer discipline and indoor sport for me, I'm still liable to be tormented by the "blockage" phenomenon that used to affect my reading too - I'd get bogged down with something but feel badly about not finishing it, so I'd end up not reading much while I tried heroically to get through whatever it was that had lost my interest. It was a breakthrough when I finally told myself that life's too short and there are too many good books out there to get bogged down by one (even a "great" one) that's not grabbing me - so I gave myself permission to put it down and start another one. While flipping through 3 others. And adding to my longer-term list of "next ones"...

I suspect I need to do the same with blogging. I'm finding it hard to let go of the backlog of bloggable ideas and musings that feel time-bound to specific reading or events (Obama inauguration, anyone? I know... shame on me, and my blogging license is again under review...).

Anyway, just wanted to reassure you that I'm still here... and to give myself permission to move on... consigning with some regret (and also some relief) all those undoubtedly brilliant and eminently bloggable thoughts to the shadowy realm of the un-posted...

Besides, I've got some work - and a whole lot of reading - to do.

what shall we then sing?

2009-01-16T09:17:00.007-05:00

My list (file folders/binder) of "songs to write" keeps getting longer (thicker, deeper-and-wider...), far outstripping the pace of actual writing.

And this, I think, is as it should be.

One of the questions I often ask myself and those around me is "what do we NEED to sing?" That is, given what is going on around and among and within us, and given who we are and who we are called to be, and given what God is up to and God's intentions for the world... what shall we then sing? What are those texts that would be especially good, useful, important, necessary, URGENT for us to sing, right now?

The way this flows from my last post is, I trust, obvious, as it demonstrates the way I understand myself, and my vocation, to be functioning within the broader "body" of the church. "Texts that linger, words that explode," indeed.

The song I'm working on now is a result of that process - from a comment via e-mail that "in our church we really need a new song to sing at baptisms, when we welcome a new member into the body of Christ."

The two songs Charlene and I were harmonizing yesterday both come out of that process in a different way - one was written as a prayer for us to sing at last summer's Mennonite Church Canada Assembly (based on the theme text for that event), and the other for next year's Advent worship resources in Leader magazine (based on next year's Advent lectionary texts).

Each of the three CDs that I've recorded so far have emerged in different ways from this same kind of process... as does the new collection of songs (mostly based on prophetic texts - are you surprised?) that I'm getting set to record next... and the community supported music "membership" system is a particular way to structure that kind of process...

People often ask me where I find "inspiration" for so many songs, and the answer may be so mundane as to seem unsatisfying. (At least for those who find the mundane to be unsatisfying.)

Where does the pastor find "inspiration" for writing regular sermons? Where does the scholar find "inspiration" for writing more articles and books? Where does the teacher find "inspiration" for another day's classes, or the farmer for another year's crop, or the cook for another day's meals?

I don't know that the process is so different for any of us exercising our vocation as members of the body of Christ. We pay attention to the realities around us... we are immersed in Scripture and in prayer and in the life and mission of our local community of faith... and we do the work that has been entrusted to us - to prepare something "for the building up of the body" and to offer it to the community in hope and trust that it may contribute in some way to the formation of a people that is capable of living its vocation in the world.

(Also in hope and trust, by the way - at least on our better and more honest days - that the community may also point out when we've gotten it quite wrong.)

This is not solitary work, although parts of it are often done alone. This is "community work" in the best sense of that word.

And it is in faithfulness to that vocation that our work may indeed be "inspired."

So what do we need to sing?

I hope you'll keep telling me. I'm still listening. And getting it wrong, and sometimes getting it right.

Let's keep singing.

a candidate for daring?

2009-01-06T13:37:00.009-05:00

As I embark on the adventure of 2009, seeking again (still, anew) to be faithful to this vocation of "building up the body of Christ by creating and sharing songs of faith for small and tall," I am drawn to these words (yes, Brueggemann again) that, I think, express it very well. They help me to better understand my own role, along with those of other colleagues, companions and co-conspirators in the context of, and for the sake of, the work of the church in the world.

"It is the work of canonical practice in ecclesial communities and the work of criticism in the scholarly community to keep the (biblical) text available. It is by the ongoing enterprise of religious and scholarly communities that the text lingers over time in available ways. Out of that lingering, from time to time, words of the text characteristically erupt into new usage. They are seized upon by someone in the community with daring. Or perhaps better, the words of the text seize someone in the community who is a candidate for daring. In that moment of reutterance, the present is freshly illuminated, reality is irreversibly transformed. The community comes to know or see or receive or decide afresh. What has been tradition, hovering in dormancy, becomes available experience. In the moment of speaking and hearing, treasured tradition becomes present experience, inimitable, without parallel, irreversible. In that utterance, the word does lead reality."

Will I be "a candidate for daring" this year? Will you?

Will our community(ies) "come to know or see or receive or decide afresh?"

That is my prayer. Looking forward to working (walking, singing, musing) together with you again.

(The full text of Brueggemann's article "Texts That Linger, Words That Explode" can be found here. I read it in his book by the same name, with the subtitle "Listening to Prophetic Voices.")

get on board... 2009 here we come...

2008-12-20T16:58:00.003-05:00

In a few hours we'll be boarding the train... this time for the "short" trip (34 hours, or so) to Winnipeg for Christmas celebrations with my family (in other words, HOLIDAY time).

Not like that longish train trip I'll be doing in Feb/March... Edmonton to Boston by way of Seattle... just posted the beginnings of the 2009 performance schedule so you can have a look if you like...

So I'm "signing off" until 2009... Merry Christmas, and see you next year!

subversive singing... subversives, singing

2008-12-19T12:39:00.006-05:00

We're "plotting" our route for some lightning-strike "guerrilla caroling" tonight... now that we live in town, we can just WALK from house to house and sing our songs, no matter what the weather... nobody knows we're coming, or that we're going to be recruiting people along the way, anybody that wants to join us as we fan out across our unsuspecting sleepy little town...

So LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW! Perfect "cover" for an operation like this, and it'll cover our tracks in minutes.

We're not alone. It's not just our town. We're part of a bigger, broader movement of folks whose songs will not be silenced, no matter what is blaring from shopping mall speakers in the increasingly frantic attempts to get people to do-their-bit-for-the-economy and SHOP. They can crank up the volume all they want, but that won't keep the alternative songs from being heard and sung and passed along...

Singers like that teen-ager Mary... old Zechariah... Simeon and Anna and - get this - a whole ARMY of angels... all singing their songs, typically in small venues (although that open-air stage on the hillside is pretty big, I guess, even if it is mostly just a local shepherd hang-out)... Luke has some pretty good posts about those performances and audience responses (check out Luke 1:46-55; 1:67-79; 2:13-15; 2:28-38 for some set lists and lyrics as well).

So spread the word... and KEEP ON SINGING! And if you feel like it, come on over for hot chocolate later on tonight...

jeremiah and christmas

2008-12-17T13:27:00.005-05:00

Christmas, it seems to me, is the best and worst time for anyone who cares about prophetic literature and thinks it matters (which, I suppose, are two ways of saying the same thing).

Lately I have been greedily devouring Walter Brueggemann’s collection of essays “Like Fire in the Bones: Listening for the Prophetic Word in Jeremiah.”

Brueggemann’s writing has always impacted me deeply, ever since that first reading of “The Prophetic Imagination” many years ago while sitting in a green double-cab Toyota pickup truck at 6:00am, slowly inching around the block waiting in line to buy gas in Cochabamba, Bolivia. (Lots of time for reading!)

His articulation of the vocation of an “alternative community” - as depicted throughout the biblical text and engaged with characteristic clarity, nuance, and unflinching honesty in Brueggemann’s own writing - has been formative for me in so many ways.

And lately, as I have been growing into (and wrestling with the implications of) my own vocation as a songwriter of and for the church, I find myself deeply moved by Brueggemann’s obvious love and respect for - and keen insight into - the function of poetry in the life of the “alternative community” throughout scripture and in our present age.

Somehow this Christmas I find myself responding differently to so many of the texts and songs that speak of good news, and peace on earth, and the God who comes to set things right. In other years I have found these texts and songs to be inspiring, to be hope-giving, to be reaffirming of a sense of vocation for the church as an “alternative community” in the world.

Somehow this year, in the face of so many cascading crises of economy/ecology and in the expectation of escalating crises to come, I find myself in a “darker” place. I’m finding some of the songs I’m writing have a darker “edge” to them (as will be obvious to the members of my CSM who received my latest “delivery of songs”). I’m struggling to find the words. I’m realizing that I (and, I suspect, we) need to learn to lament.

Not a coincidence, perhaps, that I have of late been drawn to Jeremiah, who is best known to many of us for his words of lament embedded in “the Christmas story” in Matthew 2. Jeremiah, “known as the most troubled of prophets,” and “competent beyond reason in bringing grief to speech” (Brueggemann, pp. 184-185). Jeremiah, thrown into prison and vilified as a traitor because he saw catastrophe coming, and said so, and refused to share the cheery prognostications of official-dom that wanted to reassure the populace that their plans and management techniques would resolve the issues.

And yet...

The same Jeremiah who, after the collapse and in the midst of the chaos, did the most astonishing thing, and bought property. Chose to incarnate hope, in concrete form, “For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.” (Jer. 32:15)

An action that prefigures in a vivid and dramatic way what we celebrate at Christmas - Word becoming flesh, God “pitching a tent and dwelling among us,” incarnate in the midst of crisis and chaos and confusion.

... the “body of Christ” that continues to be “incarnate” in an “alternative community”...

I once heard a wise man (OK, it was my dad) musing that in the midst of crisis and catastrophe, the most urgent and strategic thing to do would be to plant churches. Local manifestations of “the body of Christ,” called, equipped and sent to live out their vocation and “incarnate” good news in the midst of whatever circumstances arise.

An “alternative community” that is capable of giving voice to (and not papering over) lament and grief. An “alternative community” that is committed to “pitching its tent and dwelling” in the midst of the very place where it seems there is no hope.

As I read in Brueggemann’s essay this morning:

“... What is at issue is how a griever can be a hoper.

“I submit that holding these two texts together (Jer. 8:18-9:3 and Jer. 32:1-15) may be our most important agenda in our societal context. The vision of the promise cannot be abandoned because we are charged with a vision and cannot renege. But the poet of grief cannot be silent, for the word burns to be spoken. Our problem is how to hope so convincedly and yet to discern so deeply at the same time.

“...It is the embrace of and engagement with the hurt and forsakeness of 8:18-9:3 that permits Jeremiah to move on past despair to buoyancy. Indeed it is in the specific, concrete expression of despair that there come the seeds and possibilities of hope.

“I conclude that tamed cynics and chastened radicals, if they are to continue their vision of an alternative world, must find concrete ways of giving voice to their despair that is likely also the despair of God. It is the utterance of the hopeless poem of 8:18-9:3 that creates the rhetorical, psychological, theological possibility of hope in 32:1-15.

“...If Jeremiah had not spoken the despair of 8:18-9:3, it would not have been verbalized anguish but would have become immobilizing, unexpressed rage... Thus the despair of 8:18-9:3 is not the anithesis or denial of hope. It is an essential “door to hope” (see Hos. 2:15).

“... Out of this I submit a liberating juxtaposition for radicals who can move in and through and beyond despair to a new buoyancy. On the one hand, there is need for concrete, public acts of hope, public risks for newness, and public assault on conventional hopelessness.That is the meaning of the land-buying in 32:1-15...

“... On the other hand, and prerequisite to the concrete public act of hope, is the pathos-filled expression of despair.

“... So I argue it is the grief of Jeremiah that is the ground of hope. It is the pained word that precedes the anticipatory word. It is liturgy that grounds public action.

“... Speechless radicals are bound to be hopeless radicals, left only with their wishes, stridency, and coercion. Grief-filled speech permits hope-filled action.”

(Walter Brueggemann, “Like Fire in the Bones: Listening for the Prophetic Word in Jeremiah,” pp. 186-188).

news flash: artists doing creative economic thinking

2008-12-11T13:05:00.008-05:00

Just came across this - some folks in New York City working at "economic revitalization for performing artists" - including a variety of creative ways of seeking "alternative business models for the arts"...

And here's someone who "proposes a way to adapt the business plan followed by most Community Supported Agricultures (CSA). Like the CSA model, Stolen Chair hopes to build a membership community which would provide ‘seed’ money for the company’s development process and then reap a year’s worth of theatrical harvests."

Sound familiar?

As my "Community Supported Music" initiative heads into its third year of operation, it's neat to see how various people in various places are picking up on the idea, and/or developing similar initiatives independently of each other... At what point does this start to look like a "movement"...? (GRIN)

I've also been glad to see a number of new "memberships" coming in over the last couple of weeks... with a few more messages saying there are others on the way...

The circle is growing! Small-scale and humble for sure... but hey, in the midst of so much turmoil, isn't that a bit of good economic news...?

the last shall be first

2008-12-09T09:49:00.002-05:00

Saturday night's house concert was my last performance of 2008. It's been quite a year, as you can see. I'm grateful. 2009 is shaping up to be very full and varied as well (not sure when I'll get around to posting the beginnings of the 2009 performance schedule).

Saturday night's event was also, I hope, a "first." I had never done a "house concert" before, and we were experimenting with a unique "smalltall" format, with an initial 1-hour set of especially child-oriented music, and then a break for refreshments and visiting, and then childcare was provided at a friend-and-participant's house just down the street, and we did a second set with just the adults.

I had a blast, and my sense is that the group did too. I think people expected to come for a fun time, and had that, and were a bit surprised at the intensity of the "inspirational" element of the experience as well. I know I was.

That adult setting was especially a highlight for me, as it gave me a chance to do some songs that I've never (in three cases) or rarely (in one other) performed in public before, and that don't really "fit" in the context of more typical concert or worship settings...

I'm hoping to do more of these house concerts. Please let me know if you're interested.

Now it's time for a bit of a change of pace, and to focus more on recording for the next two months. Looking forward to what might emerge from that process as well!

insisting on vocation

2008-12-08T14:05:00.006-05:00

What a deeply moving experience it was last week to gather with leaders of numerous Christian denominations to focus on "sustainability."

To hear from David Radcliff (of the New Community Project), Fletcher Harper (of Greenfaith), Jeff Woods, Stan McKay, Mark Vincent (of Design For Ministry).

Wow.

And as I read this column in today's Toronto Star, I am struck again by how well this writer, and so many others (as I've blogged before), is actually articulating something that resonates deeply with our calling and vocation as "alternative community," as church. The vocation/identity that was the focus of the daily worship sessions that I led with last week's ecumenical gathering (Genesis 12:1-4, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 3:10)...

In the words of today's article by Carol Goar:

"... ways to achieve full employment, reduce poverty, cut greenhouse gas emissions and keep government finances in good shape without economic growth. People would have to live differently - work less, buy less, and pollute less. Values would have to change. The economy would have to fit within the biosphere.

"Victor (author of "Managing Without Growth - Slower by Design, Not Disaster") admits many readers will have trouble getting their heads around the idea of life without economic growth. It's alien to everything they've been taught. "If I can at least get the to open their eyes to alternatives, I'll think I've accomplished something."

"... Something's stirring. It's not a groundswell. But a conversation is beginning about what recovery really means."

Do we have ears to hear?

easy being green...?

2008-11-30T21:51:00.007-05:00

In a few hours I leave for Marco Island, Florida (oh, what a hard life I lead...!), where I'll be leading worship at the Leadership Seminar of the Ecumenical Stewardship Center.

This is a group of leaders of numerous Christian denominations across North America who get together annually with a focus on "stewardship" agenda. And this year the emphasis is on stewardship and environmental sustainability. Sound like something I'd be interested in?

The title chosen for the event is "It's Easy Being Green," and quite frankly, I don't buy it. Which puts me in an interesting position for the next few days, wouldn't you say?

I'm sure, at one level, the selection of this title simply represents a need to have something snappy and memorable and positive-and-action-oriented... I don't expect to be fundamentally at odds with the organizers or presenters... I'm looking forward to a very stimulating and challenging and meaningful time, and I expect to be learning a lot.

But I must say, whenever I hear a statement like "it's easy being green" I'm immediately on the look-out for someone trying to sell me something. If you just buy this product, or invest in this initiative, or do this or that, then you'll be "green"... and if everyone did it - just follow these three simple steps - then we wouldn't have to worry about that pesky little ecological crisis anymore.

Sorry, but I'm not convinced. I think there's lots of stuff we can be doing - and a lot of it is simple - that is vitally, vitally important. But "easy being green?" I don't think this kind of statement takes seriously enough the kind of economic and cultural transformation that will need to happen - and that will happen one way or another, whether we like it or not - in a transition out of the era of cheap oil and exorbitant consumption. A global economic model that is by definition in desperate crisis when "consumer spending" goes down by a fraction... I'm sorry, but I don't believe the kind of change that is needed here is going to be "easy." Not by a long shot.

Case-in-point. How many of us going to the Leadership Seminar will be flying? I will. I tried to arrange to go by train - the better ecological choice - but it wasn't "easy." In fact, I couldn't figure out how to do it at all (one of the requirements of my P2 musician work visa is that I MUST leave the country the DAY AFTER my last engagement... NO EXCEPTIONS... kinda tough to get by train from South Florida to Toronto by train in that kind of time...). So I'm flying.

No problem. Wouldn't it be "easy" to arrange for some other gigs on the way back home and work my way north by train? I was going to try that too, but ran out of time and didn't want to jeopardize the visa process (the application had to be in 120 days in advance)... so I didn't get it done. Or wouldn't it be "easy" to just say "well, I have this music ministry vocation, but I won't travel to come to your event"...?

Well, no. That wouldn't be easy at all, and I also don't think it would be right.

hmmm...

Don't get me wrong. I'm by no means "down" on this event, or the theme, or the fact that I suspect virtually everyone will be flying to get there (ok, I suppose I am a bit "down" on that last one...). I think this is good and vital agenda, and a good and vital event, and I can't wait to meet and hear from and learn from all these good and vital people (and all the others too, who I'm sure will be just as "good and vital").

Just don't tell me that following through on this agenda is going to be "easy." I don't believe it.

Makes me think of the guy with the catchy slogan "Take up your cross and follow me." Not exactly easy. Life-giving, fulfilling, community-and-joy-and-pain-filled... yes. Spirit-led, yup. Worthwhile, you bet. GOOD NEWS - absolutely.

Easy? I don't think so.

neo-luddite blogging dinosaur (or confessions of a facebook virgin)

2008-11-24T10:11:00.002-05:00

It's true. I do not have a Facebook page, nor have I ever visited anyone else's (because you have to have to "sign up" first).

Oh, the shame.

I suppose as a regular member of society (?!) I could be forgiven for such an infraction. There are still a few of us around. But as everyone knows, "indie musicians" like myself are held to a higher standard. Our expertise and commitment to all-things-online-social-networking is apparently the key to our survival and cutting-edge-ness in this new digital age.

It gets worse. I also don't have a myspace page... I don't have any photos on flickr... or videos on YouTube... and on top of the various automatic e-mails asking if I want to become someone's facebook "friend" I am now reliably informed that I should be on Twitter, and Ning, and Ping (or is it "Pong"?)...

And to think, 5 years ago I thought it was pretty neat to have a website of my own. And then beginning a blog, I thought, put me right on the forefront of the foot-dragging late-adopter wave of the digital revolution.

But now it's getting kind of lonely out here, as more and more of the folks who started blogging around the same time as me have long since migrated over to facebook and who-knows-how-many-subsequent-generations-of-social-networking-technology where it seems I can't even read any of their stuff without "signing up" or something...

Hey, I miss you guys! Why don't you come back for a visit sometime? Oh, I understand. You need to keep up with all your new facebook friends now. That's ok. Really.

In the meantime, I'll just keep puttering along over here... you know where to find me if you ever have time to come back for a visit. I know it isn't much. But it's home.

singing, smoked meat and bagels in montreal

2008-11-19T10:26:00.002-05:00

Well, it's official. My month-long "Canada Rail Pass" is now finished, used up, kaput. The final installment was this past weekend in Montreal, where I did a concert at the Maison de l'Amite (House of Friendship) on Saturday night and a Sunday morning worship service with the Mennonite Fellowship of Montreal. Met many wonderful people and had a great time.

And... this time Julie came with me and we made a "couple weekend" out of it too. Lots of walking in Old Montreal and down Saint Laurent... including stops at the famous Fairmount Bagel place (est. 1919) and an eye-popping (not to mention gut-busting... in a good way...) smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz's (est. 1928).

Our attempts on Sunday night to hear some live music didn't go so well, as the places we tried in the "Roots/Folk" category listed in the paper turned out, upon closer inspection, to consist of someone doing solo acoustic 70s rock covers at one place, and a DJ doing whatever DJs do at another... Oh well. We had a "dessert crepe" instead, and it was so far "over the top" that it went most of the way down the other side as well...

Good fun.

Tonight is the first ever "SmallTall Music Members Song Circle"... 7:30-9:30 or so at Rouge Valley Mennonite Church. It's an experiment, something I've been wanting to try for some time now... we'll see how many people turn up, and how it goes, and whether it's something we might want to try in other places too.

new song for Advent

2008-11-13T09:16:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we had our last meeting as the writing team for the Advent 2009 worship materials for Leader magazine. What a wonderful crew to work with!

The song I wrote as part of our work is again - for me, at least - rather unusual... considerably "darker" than most worship songs that I associate with Advent and Christmas... it's keying in on the first few verses of the first Gospel text for Advent 2009 (Luke 21:25-26)... an "apocalyptic" text, which is an interesting way to frame the coming of Christ as a baby in Bethlehem... and, it seems to me, very descriptive of our context today (and, I expect, next December as well). The song picks up on this apocalyptic tone and imagery and expands on it in the context of climate change and ecological crisis, and moves to an understated but (I hope) evocative sense of the cosmic calling of the church as depicted in Ephesians 3:10... with a refrain of hope taken from Isaiah 12:2... all of which are part of the cloud of lectionary texts for Advent 2009.

I'm thinking I'll include this song in the November "delivery of songs" to the members of my CSM ("Community Supported Music") initiative... should be interesting to hear people's feedback on this one.

a collection of kindnesses

2008-11-01T01:51:00.001-04:00

Eugene, who got up way early and spent the better part of the day driving me to and from W-K where I was leading worship... and carrying all my stuff, since I was still on crutches.

Julie and Matthew, who took me to the train and bundled me on board with a squeeze and a smile and a coffee.

Darrell, who waited until 3:00 am to pick me up at the station in Saskatoon.

Eric and Velma in Prince Albert, who pampered me like crazy, accelerating the healing process by at least a week, I’m sure.

Stu in Drake who ran the sound since he happened to be there, and the one who was going to do it was helping a neighbour with the combining.

Eric at the Equipping conference, who gave me a big hug and said with tears in his eyes: “the Spirit is upon you, brother... keep on going...”

Shelley and Darrell in Saskatoon, whose house and family quickly became my “home away from home.”

Val and Darrell and “the band,” whose energy and love of the music was great to “feed” off of (and our joint blues-funk rendition of “Over My Head” was a great way to end the MCC “Food For All” benefit concert).

Joan in Rosthern, whose passion for market gardening and running the Station Arts Tea Room reenergized me at a low point.

Ryan’s grade 11 Christian Ethics class at RJC, who really engaged the debate about downloading and “stealing.”

Leo and Donna, who delighted in sitting and chatting all evening as if there was nothing they’d rather do.

Mel, who saw me on the church steps and pulled over to unlock the door and let me in.

Congregations who burst into song at the first notes of one that they’ve obviously been using: “Take Good Care” in Prince Albert, “To Be Content” in Drake, “Prayer of Agur” at Mount Royal, “Enough For All” in Eigenheim.

Jerry, who gave me a ride to Superb in his diesel VW bug (someday to be running on used vegetable oil).

Jayden, age 7(?), who shyly but proudly told me he plays the guitar and writes a few songs.

Lois, who beamed throughout the whole concert and offered some sandwiches for the train and offered to put the extra CDs in the mail so I could fit everything else back in my bag.

Dan, who drove me to Unity, and spoke of his experience “going organic” with his farm in western Saskatchewan, and who bought me a travel mug to replace the one I forgot in Jerry’s car.

The bartender (I didn’t learn her name) who offered me any non-alcoholic drinks I wanted “on the house” while I waited in her establishment - the only place open in Unity - for the train which was, at that point, 3 hours late.

The Via rail attendant who kindly didn’t argue with a certain frigid passenger at 2:30 am who’d been waiting outside on the platform for two-and-a-half hours (after the bar closed) for the train, and who dropped into the facing-seats that would normally be reserved for a family group.

Richard from Bo-a-ston who advised over lunch that when I’m there in March I should be sure to take “the red line” to the Hah-vard station, since I’d meet “lots of other strange people there, ah-tists and musicians, and you’d have a mah-velous time...”

I’m writing this in the dome car as we roll through the trees north of Superior - by the time I get the chance to post it I’ll be home - and I realize what an astonishing collection of kindnesses this journey has been. Thank you, all.

so long, saskatchewan

2008-10-29T17:43:00.002-04:00

After tonight's Superb performance (that is, in Superb, Saskatchewan... let's hope the performance lives up to the name) I'll get on the train in Unity (I'm not making this up) for the journey back to Toronto and then Stouffville.

It's been a delightful week. My own personal tally of performances so far would be 3 great ones, 2 good ones, 1 so-so and 1 clunker (the "clunker" was also warmly and appreciatively received, but I was a little frustrated by the sound system). The joint concert with Val and Darrell was a real highlight, and we raised over $5000 for MCC's "Food For All" programs to boot!

It's been great to connect with a lot of people, many of whom went to some lengths to tell a story or describe my height when I last lived in these parts (we left when I was 11... you can do the math). In Rosthern yesterday I went for a walk (yes, the first one since I sprained my ankle) around the block, and not one but two pick-up trucks stopped in the middle of the street, rolled down a window, and a head emerged saying "... Bryan?" Lots of fun to see some folks I hadn't seen in many a year... and new friends and co-conspirators too...

The ankle is iced for the last time... the bags are packed... time to head out for a Superb evening, and a couple more days on the train... we'll see if I get back in time to see Matthew in his mariachi Halloween costume...

whistle-stop tour, without the whistles. or the stops.

2008-10-23T17:27:00.002-04:00

Two blocks from our apartment, an hour on the GO train, a “Jamaican Patty” and a spilt cup of coffee at Union Station, and now halfway through the 42 hours on the Via train on the way to Saskatoon (where I’ll be when I get a chance to post this). Would be nice if there were enough trains on this route to get off each day, do a concert, get back on and head right on out to the next town for the next day’s event. With only three trains per week on a very limited route, scheduling a tour by rail (at least in western Canada) is not particularly efficient. Maybe someday.

But hey, I don’t mind. This time around the extended and enforced “rest” on the train is just what I need. The air-cushion-cast is enough to get me on and off the train with guitar and backpack and without crutches... and then lots of time to keep the ankle elevated and let it heal. Hopefully enough so that I can drive a rental car to my various Saskatchewan gigs without worrying about how much pain might be involved with a sudden stomping-on-the-brakes.

Plus the time on the train is a great chance to catch up on all kinds of other work that’s been overdue and hard to get to recently... not to mention reading time and gazing-out-the-windows-in-the-dome-car time... and chatting with fellow travelers and discovering common interests (Janice and a fascination for history and archaeology and her soon-to-be-destinations Cuzco and Macchu Picchu, Bruce who plays in a Celtic band called Fingal's Last Pint, Kay from Jacksonville Florida and a gentleman from Georgia kicking around the continent on their North America Rail Passes...).

They’re right, you know - it really is “a more human way to travel.”

UPDATE: Arrived two hours late last night (this morning) in Saskatoon... 3:00am instead of 1:00am... Darrell, bless his soul, had been waiting patiently (they have Tim Hortons in Saskatoon too!) and brought me back to his house where I luxuriated in double bed (ahh - horizontal sleep!) and a bath... now I've got the rental car, and I'm ready to go... first stop, Prince Albert tonight...

"pop" goes the ankle

2008-10-17T21:11:00.002-04:00

... at last night's ball game. Just in time for tomorrow's move, and Sunday's gig, and Tuesday's trip to Saskatchewan. Nothing broken, but a "bad sprain."

The last time we moved, in the summer of 2003, I had just returned from Zimbabwe and was sick, sick, sick... Julie has been musing out loud about my amazingly "coincidental" timing...

Thank God for the terrific community of folks that is helping us out... from the ride in Dave's truck to get the "air cast" boot thingy that I hope will allow me to hobble around Saskatchewan with backpack and guitar next week... to Sheri and Arnold and Emily and Dawn and Angie helping us finish (?!) packing tonight... to the army of folks with pickups and vans and willing arms who will help us tomorrow... and I heard something about supper tomorrow night...

We are indeed blessed. And grateful.

Please pass the ice pack.