myopic pilgrim

Before Audioslave, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden put out a solo album in 1999 called Euphoria Morning. It was the last year before all the numbers of the year ticked into the next and it felt significant somehow. Which is partly why a song like Preaching the End of the World about a personal ad worked so well. The other part of why it worked is because it wasn’t a a love song looking for your soulmate. (You can still find lyrics and audio files at Chris Cornell’s website though you’ll need Real Player to hear the songs).

Call me now it’s all right
It’s just the end of the world
You need a friend in the world
‘Cause you can’t hide
So call and I’ll get right back
If your intentions are pure
I’m seeking a friend for the end of the world

There are interesting characters in these songs including the couple in Can’t Change Me a whirling 6/8 song. “She’s going to change the world.” But he replies defiantly—maybe hopefully, “She can’t change me.”

Then again, maybe it’s the same people everytime. In one song he only loves her when he’s down. In Fluttergirl he’s afraid he’ll tear her wings and make her colors run away as he “melts into her smile.”

Musically, this probably isn’t going to satisfy Soundgarden fans who want something harder. This is something you put on late in the evening when the conversation has gotten increasingly introspective. You have your Earl Grey or your brandy and you want to be transported somewhere else, preferably someplace dimly lit.

While recording some background tracks in GarageBand for our upcoming Christmas musical (only 64 more days!), I realized something very useful for choir directors or worship leaders who deal with vocalists. The track I was working on was a group number, but instead of just recording a bunch of mes, I used the “vocal transformer” plug-in to—yes, transform my voice to sound higher, like Junior Asparagus from VeggieTales, and lower, a la Barry White. I was just trying to add some variety to the voices, but then I realized it. I can finally record rehearsal tracks for the whole choir.

Before I could only record the men’s parts, but then had to track down at least one woman who could come in and learn the female parts pretty quickly. Now I just sing in my own octave and change the pitch and timbre of my voice to approximate a soprano or alto. The key word, of course, is approximate. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s enough to give them the part. Then I just pan their part to one side and everyone else to the other. If they need to hear more of their part for learning purposes, they adjust the balance of their stereo accordingly. Likewise, if they want to practice with less of their part coming out.

Want to hear a sample? This is African Noel by Victor Johnson.

Some people didn’t like to refer to Hurrican Katrina victims as refugees. Al Sharpton said, “They are not refugees. They are citizens of the United States,” as if he was trying to make a distinction between the poor black folks we might find in Africa and the poor black folks we’d find in this country. He also said they weren’t refugees because they weren’t wandering around “looking for charity.” In the first place, I don’t like the way the way he is talking about refugees in general (I think of the Darfur people who were driven from their homes at gunpoint). And in the second place, since when was charity shameful. Since America started growing up, that’s when.

They aren’t refugees; they’re Americans. Americans pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. We have that can-do spirit. They aren’t refugees. They don’t need anyone to help them.

But they do. And at some point we all need some kind of help. It’s silly to pretend that anything we have wasn’t provided somehow by someone else. Follow that line of thought and ultimately you will end with the Creator.

The letter Jesus writes to the Laodicean church in Revelation 3:14 calls that church lukewarm. They are neither hot nor cold. They are not passionate and intense for God and neither are they like cold water on a hot day, refreshing and revitalizing. And why are they lukewarm? “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked (v.17).” And that you need charity. You need God.

Dear God, we are all seeking a home, a haven where we will be safe. We need to eat and drink and to be clothed. We need refuge in the brokeness of our world. Bread of Heaven, feed me until I’m no longer in want. Amen

Last week or so Harvey from Living Stones let me know that a couple of gals will put together an information table about Darfur genocide in the Sudan for their evening gatherings. They’ll be taking donations and just keeping people up to date about the situation. I can’t tell you how that encouraged me. I was there in July and didn’t get much response. But then my expectations were they would all rise up and ask something akin to “what shall we do then to be saved?”

Turns out they had this planned for the weekend that the Katrina Hurricane hit and so ended up focusing on that for time being. I guess the time has come to bring it up again (since the networks won’t even spend more than a half hour in total covering it).

I have a more realistic expectation of people’s response now. I just want to move them from one level to another.

1. Awareness. Ignorance, while blissful, means you didn’t even know anything was going on in Darfur, let alone where it was. (just in case, it’s the western region in the country of the Sudan).
2. Staying informed. You’ve signed up for a newsletter or Google news alerts or maybe occasionally check websites about the genocide.
3. Talking about it. You bring it up in conversation because someone was talking about Africa or the holocaust or politics or religion or your Darfur shirt or green wristband.
4. Doing something yourself. You give money, buy a t-shirt or wristband, or ship books to humanitarian aid workers or maybe something else
5. Getting others to do something too.Hey, pal, I was going to save the world this weekend by having a prayer vigil/fundraiser at my house. Wanna come?

[tags]activism, Darfur, genocide[/tags]

This week’s a softer world is fantastic. Check it out.