let's start the new year right (#3)

alright kids. last week was the christmas playlist. this week is the new years playlist. don't get it twisted though... this isn't going to be one of those playlists that you'll wanna crank at a new years party so you can bump & grind with that special someone. these will get you in the mood for new years. so give it a listen this week.


1. Let's Start the New Years Right by Bing Crosby
2. Dirty Harry (Schtung Chinese New Year Remix) by Gorillaz - this song is awesome.
3. 1999 by Prince - classic
4. End of the Year by Other Lives - this is a new one i stumbled upon. beautiful song & a beautiful concept. it's the end of the year, but it's not too late :)
5. The New Year by Death Cab For Cutie
6. New Years Day by U2
7. New Year by Charlie Hall - this is a song about hope. i like the idea behind this song... a new day to point the way to God's great life.
8. Together We'll Ring in the New Year by Motion City Soundtrack
9. Our Time by Yeah Yeah Yeahs - this song makes me smile.
10. Long December by Counting Crows
11. In the New Year by The Walkmen - another new one i just recently discovered. the way this guy sings is so passionate & messy. i love it.

it's gonna be a good year.

Amain.

Thirdway community member, Eddie Oroyan, offered our worship music last Sunday with some pretty great Christmas songs. His leading of "I saw three ships" was my favorite for sure. We happily belted it out, strumming the guitar and banjo and clanging on the glockenspiel while Eddie walked around singing and playing his harmonica. Silly or not, it was refreshing to approach God with joy and playfulness.

Eddie told us that the song originates in England somewhere in the 1600's. People would wait at the ports, looking to the horizon, in anticipation for their sailors to arrive. There was so much joy there in the waiting for returning husbands, fathers, friends and news-bearers.

The final lyric is a shouting "Then let us all rejoice amain, on christmas day, on christmas day!" The word "amain" means "with full force, at full speed, suddenly, exceedingly, and greatly".

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I pray that as we celebrate Christ's birth, God will restore our anticipation of His kingdom coming in fullness and that we would look to the horizon with joy, ready to pump our fists into the air and shout "Amain"!

Merry Christmas!!

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Your trees wave branches high, like arms in church to grateful sky. - Aaron Weiss, mewithoutYou

#2

Get christmassy y'all.

1. Put the Lights on the Tree - Sufjan Stevens

- The official video for this song makes me so happy. And makes me want to call my Memaw.

2. Little Saint Nick - The Beach Boys

3. Jing-A-Ling, Jing-A-Ling - The Andrews Sisters

4. Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby & DAVID BOWIE.

- That's right. David Bowie.

5. Sleigh Ride - She & Him

- I have a friend crush on cutie Zooey D.

6. Winter Wonderland - Ray Charles

7. Go tell it on the Mountain - Dolly Parton

- Love Dolly (said in the imperative). Or Else.

8. Holy, Holy, Holy - Sufjan Stevens

9. Last Christmas - George Michael

10. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - She & Him

11. Baby, It's Cold Outside - Louis Armstrong & Velma Middleton

12. Jingle Bells - Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters

13. I Saw Three Ships - Suffy baby.

14. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Bob Dylan

- If you get through this without smiling, there might be something wrong with you.

15. We're Goin' to the Country - Sufjan Stevens

- I think I might love him. Feel free to confront me.

16. White Christmas - Otis Redding

17. Christmas, Baby Please Come Home - Mariah Carey

18. Happy Holidays (Beef Wellington remix) - Bing Crosby

19. I Wish it was Christmas Today - Julian Casablancas

20. Christmas in Hollis - Run D.M.C.

- Die Hard? Anyone?

21. Silver Bells - Stevie Wonder

22. Blue Christmas - Bright Eyes

23. Merry Christmas Baby - Otis Redding

24. Let it Snow! - Lena Horne

25. All I want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey

- Love actually IS all around.

26. Baby, It's Cold Outside - Ray Charles & Betty Carter

- Because I love both versions, you get to hear it twice. You're welcome.

27. You're all I want for Christmas - Bing Crosby

28. O Come All Ye Faithful - Bob Dylan.

- Again, feel free to smile until your cheeks fall off.

So our weekly playlists won't usually be nearly this long, but I figured it would be nice to have a list long enough to decorate a tree and eat a slice of pie. And wrap a gift. And drink a Christmassy beer with a friend or a Memaw.

Merry Christmas!!!

Good.

"You ask if your verses are good. You ask me. You have previously asked others. You send them to journals. You compare them with other poems, and you are troubled when certain editors reject your efforts. Now (as you have permitted me to advise you) I beg you to give all that up. You are looking outwards, and of all things that is what you must not now do....

Go inside yourself. Discover the motive that bids you write; examine whether it sends its roots down to the deepest places of your heart, confess to yourself whether you would have to die if writing were denied you. This before all: ask yourself in the quietest hour of your night : MUST I write? Dig down into yourself for a deep answer. And if this should be in the affirmative, if you may meet this solemn question with a strong and simple "I Must", then build your life according to this necessity; your life must, right to its most unimportant and insignificant hour, become a token and a witness of this impulse....

And if from this turning inwards, from this sinking into your private world, there come verses, you will not think to ask anyone whether they are good verses. You will not attempt, either, to interest journals in these works : for you will see in them your own dear genuine possession, a portion and a voice of your life. A work of art is good if it has grown out of necessity. In this manner of its origin lies its true estimate: there is no other."
-Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

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My friend recently gave me this book, an early christmas gift prompted by a stout beer-steeped discussion of writing, soul-making, and the terror and bravery of reviving gifts and desires that have long been hidden, neglected or even forgotten. It was a timely and, I think even, God-inspired conversation that will deeply mark this turning point I feel myself to be in creatively.

This first letter by Rilke reminds me of the time when a man said to Jesus, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit the kingdom? Jesus said, "Why do you say 'good'? No one is good except the Father". There are probably a bazillion super deep lessons that are taught from this gospel passage, but for me, I always walk away from it reminded that my approach to God, and to life in his kingdom, isn't about being good enough. I guess that's part of what I'm coming back to creatively - a throwing off of being "good".

But the discussion, and above excerpt, isn't only for those with outward and obvious creative gifts that want to be revived. It's for all of us who have lost something of ourselves along the way of life.

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I found myself in a beautiful little moment the other night, up way too late sitting in my bed, plucking at my guitar and singing song after song after song and at one point, I smiled thinking of Rilke and said, I Must.

What must YOU do?

#1

so jess and i decided that we are going to be posting a weekly playlist of tunes. what we've been listening to that particular week & music that makes us excited to be alive. this first playlist was constructed mostly to get the ball rolling, but i won't hesitate to stand by it proudly. so... in no particular order...


1. Warrant By Foster The People
this band has completely blown up this year. i was privileged to see them in concert last weekend and it just so happened to be their last show of their tour. they put their all into their performance & it was a complete blast to see. check out the short clip from the concert at the bottom of this post.
2. Prytania By MuteMath
by far my personal favorite band and another group i'll be enjoying in concert come february. this song just makes me want to dance.
3. Meyrin Fields By Broken Bells
4. Somebody That I Used To Know By Gotye
this song is getting tons of radio play on the current and he is coming to the varsity early april... gotta get tickets (ahem... matt axelson)
5. Wide Eyes By Local Natives
6. Calgary By Bon Iver
originally i had Towers on the list, but playlist.com took it down... bummer. but calgary is still a great track off an incredible album.
7. Little Lovin' By Lissie
heard this song for the first time driving home from the airport one night. one of the best late night drives i've had in a while.
8. Lost In My Mind By The Head And The Heart
9. And If My Heart Should Somehow Stop By James Vincent McMorrow
i got to see james vincent and his band perform a couple months back. amazing live show. wow.
10. Fake Plastic Trees By Radiohead
jessica actually showed this one to me. she worked up an acoustic rendition that we were able to perform at the groundswell grand re-opening. such a great tune!


there you have it folks. enjoy!

Hello.

hey.
how are you? good? good.
how are we, you ask?
well actually, we're doing GREAT. greater than great. because we're starting a BLOG.
i know you've never heard of that before. it's because it's never been done.

danny and jess are blogging? why the heck?
well.. we're not completely entirely sure why. we dont have a mission statement or anything.

but here's the deal, danny and i meet weekly on behalf of the "soul team" of thirdway church, and it's just turning out to be such good time together. and we want to share that goodness with you. i know it would probably be easier to just invite everyone to our meetings, but let's face it, who wants to come to danny's at 8:30 every friday morning? his apartment is cold, our skreeching morning vocals sound especially terrible, and i'm pretty sure we still stink from having just woken up.

SO if you'd like to hear thoughts and songs born out of those early morning discussions, sans morning breath, please follow our blog. we'll be keeping it fairly simple. our basic desire is to share our hopes for thirdway and god's kingdom from a musical context, highlight the creative endeavors of artists in our community and city, and.... lots of other really cool things too. (i.e. awesome weekly playlists, lyrics archives for thirdway music, and probably weird videos of danny being weird)

well that's all for now. i hope you have a beautiful and inspiring friday.
i pray that our hearts will be open to God's mercy today for everyone around us, and open to the delight He takes in everyone, even you.

alright, now let's walk away from our computers for a bit and interract with some real people today. don't forget to get that playlist going though, it's a good one. also please enjoy the art by incredibly talented joel hedstrom.

Start something new today.