12/21 Christmas time is coming. I don't know whether to be glad or not. The religious aspects picturing Christ's birth, which tend to be overdone (no one knows for sure when he was born and there is no biblical precendent for it anyway), are OK if not taken too far. But to me it basically seems to be a time to celebrate materialism, especially in this postmodern age in which religion takes a back seat to the god of self. Celebrations are good, we had one here, where people can take time out of their busy lives and spend a few hours together talking and eating, bonding, we don't do that enough in our society, so maybe Christmas is valuable just for that aspect. Gift giving is good too if it is real and not just an effort to get more, so maybe that aspect of Christmas in moderation is good too. And of course its an exciting time for kids, but it can be debated how beneficial that is as well. I'm thinking about the sacred lie about Santa Claus. As you can see I have been deep in thought about this.
My suggestion is that we break Christmas up into two holidays, December 25th as a time to celebrate life, family and friends, blessings, material things, etc and move the celebration of Jesus' birth to another time, maybe Januray 6th which in Georgia when I was working there in the 1960's they called "old christmas", the end of the 12 day ancient celebration of whatever it was (winter solstice or whatever). Then people can participate in a celebration of materialism with all its parties, gliter, gifts etc with no guilt and whose who want to can keep a more subdued but joyful religious festival apart from all the materialistic trappings that have enslaved it today.
12/18 Bimini Road played from 7-10 Saturday night, we had a good crowd and as always the place was rocking. The music was great, of course, but I think we made a mistake setting the band up in a different location, in front of the tree instead of on the stage. It was not very audience friendly, in fact I was told that it was intimidating. The band, which wanted to try the new setup agrees with this assessment. Next time we will be back at the stage. The band did make a cd and video, don't know how they came out yet. Bimini Road is a truly good band, which could make a living on the road if they wanted to. They are wonderful instumentalists; Chuck on lead guitar, Richard on bass, Danial and Chad on percusion (conga and snare) and the progidal Shelly Herd on mandolin. They have a very unique sound. Their jamming is superb (I call them a folk rock jam band), vocal are great, especially Ruthie (no offense Chuck), and they have some good original music as well. It is always a great time when Bimini road shows up.
12/11 Csilla Elam's concert began well. David Speegle opened with his wonderful original songs. David is an excellent guitarist and cowrites with his mother Artis Speegle, some really moving Christian songs. David used to play in rock and country bands until he lost his voice. His diagnoses was that his musical career was over and so he quit music resigned to the fact that he would never sing again. Later, after conversion to Christianity, he was miraculously healed and decided to give his talents to the Lord. He sang four songs I think before Csilla took over.
Csilla is one of my favorite Christian musicians. Her songs are a cut above,they come from the heart, and are really moving, ispiring and encouraging. She is from Romania and shared some of her testimony with the group. Unfoutunately, after about a half hour, her voice, she is recovering from vocal problems, gave out and she had to quit. David came back and played as did Josh Brooks who was in the audience and we finishish the show. Csilla has fully recovered. We hope to have her back again.
12/9 This weekend's music got of to a roaring good start with Microwave Dave's high enegy, zoned in blues performance, last night. We seldom have a Friday night gig and I wondered how well it would go, especailly with all the other activities going on in Cullman this weekend. Dave started soon after 7 Pm and played until 9:45 with only one short break. The house was full and everyone present was very appreciative of his amazing guitar work, wonderful blues vocals and his easy going humorous banter. Everyone payed rapt attention to his performance from start to finish. He played blues classics, contemporary blues and some of his originals with probably his Kudzu song, written as a movie score, one of the hits of the evening. I partically liked the political commentary in one of his numbers, all about lying, corrupt poleticians. I wish I could remember the name and post the lyrics on our site. He had four guitars with him and played them all, and as before his cigarbox guitar which he played with a slide was really unique. Dave is a master of the loop and puts together a full blues band sound as well. He even came up with a jug band sound which he morphed into a wonderful rendition of Summertime by Mungo Jerry. I have heard nothing but wonderful comments on the performance from my customers all day. Jason Nunnely, my webmaster, took a 60 second video of Dave picking, and we will try to get it up on the web site. Dave plays every other Wednesday at Jazz Works in Huntsville, check him out. We all look forward to his next gig here.
12/8 I haven't written an update on the Organic church in a while. We still meet on Thursday nights around 7 PM and usually have 15-20 in attendance. We have basically evolved into a bible discussion group that starts with a topic presented by a member and then ends up in a no holds barred discussion. With such a diverse group with so many points of view the discussions are incedible and very inspiring and encouraging. Last night we had a change of format and we all met at Josh and Beth Haynes' house near Bird Song for a potluck and fellowship time. It was very enjoyable, nearly 20 showed up. For any not familiar with the Organic church it is basically Christianity without the religion and is open to anyone who wants to show up. We have singing led by Csilla Elam, David Speegle or Josh Brooks and end up with prayer. Jason Elam, pastor of The Father's House in Vinemont is the founder and facilitator of the group. We all basically feel that Christianity as presented by Jesus has been hijacked by religion and perverted by power and greed within the religious structure. The church should be a flat organization made up of equal members using the gifts given to them to serve others. A revolutionary concepts it seems, but it shouldn't be.
12/5 Our open mike was not very successful last night, I think we had 11 in attendance. But the pickers and singers who were there had a good time.
12/3 James Smith the Autoharp Man played to a good house Saturday night. I really enjoy James performances, he is an old 60's era folksinger like me, he likes to perfom the old songs, although he writes some really good ones as well. He has a very unique delivery, of course you don't hear the autoharp played much anymore, which has alot to do with that. What I like most is that James spends a lot of time introducing his songs, actually in many cases telling their histories or other stories about them, which really enhances his show. The audience was very apprciative. This is the kind of music that I had always wanted to have performed here, stuff you won't hear anyplace else, a rich part of Americana that is fading away fast. James and I both belong to an organization called The Huntsville Traditional Music Association, made up of an odd assortment of folk singer types. At our jam sessions you might hear anything from a jews harp or picking bow to a hammered dulcimerc, clawhammer banjo, or who knows what. Our goals are to preserve and perform old time music. You can check out our website at huntsvillefolk.org.
12/2 Jason Nunnely, my web master has updated this website as I am sure you have noticed. I would like to have your commnets on what you think about the new look. For any one interested in a web site I highly recommend Jason, he not only does a good job on th site, but is user friendly.
12/1 We returned from California on November 28th, my birthday. We had a great trip, but were glad to get back. We visited as many coffee houses as we could for new ideas and to check how we stand in the market. I really enjoy that part, I am a coffee hound. But I am always glad to get back to Alabama. California is a beautiful state, but too crowded, too busy, too crazy. I just hate too see the best farmland in the world, the Great Central Valley, where my mother lives, being covered up in concrete and asphalt. One day our kids or our grandkids will regret that we did this and wonder how we let it happen, especially when they have to buy their food from other countries. Case in point, when my folks moved to Modesto in the early 1960's the town may have had 20,000 people surrounded by almond, walnut and peach orchards and vineyards as well as major cattle operations. Now it has a population, officially of 240,000, with many more in the surrounding areas and in encrouching on the cities around it. It is hard to find reminants of its agricultural past.
San Franciso is my favorite city, but even it is changing. Not the city itself so much as its suburbs and in fact the whole Bay Area. Its hard to find undeveloped areas now. When I was in high school in San Bruno a small city on the peninsula maybe 25 miles south of SF, there were ranches all between the small towns. That is all gone, it is all city now, all around the bay. Even San Jose a farming community when I was young is a megcropolis.
Change is inevitable, but if not managed it is not always good. There is a lesson here for Alabama. If we don't start to manage our exploding growth the same thing will happen to us and we will lose the very thing that make us "Alabama The Beautiful"
