This Guy Falls Down

Final Four Fight Song Fun

To celebrate the Final Four taking place in Atlanta this weekend, I was invited by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to be on a panel of local musicians. Our job was to critique the fight songs of the four teams. Here are the results. I was pleasantly surprised by the Ohio State fight song, while Florida's came in a close second. Check out this page to listen to the songs and see if you agree with me or not...

Grits Cafe - Forsyth, GA

I took my family to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon on Saturday to enjoy the awesome weather (and to check out some arts and crafts and whatnot.). On the way back, we came across this awesome restaurant in Forsyth, GA called Grits Cafe. There were three things about Grits that made it blogworthy. One, the place is right off I-75. So if you're on the way to Florida or Savannah, or (like us) coming up the road from Macon, it's handy. Two, downtown Forsyth is worth checking out. There's nothing really fancy about it and that's kind of the point. Forsyth is one of those sleepy little southern towns that you knew existed somewhere but haven't seen in years.

But the most important reason to check out Grits is that it's flat out awesome. The food is killer - as you can imagine, they've got more than a couple of things on the menu which prominently feature the national food of the South. And they've got a bunch of other great stuff too. My wife and I shared the praline chicken and it was really quite unbelievable. The staff is extremely nice, and the atmosphere is magical. Think brick and stained glass and gaslights.

So next time you're heading through middle Georgia, be sure to check out Grits. You'll thank me.

Be Still

To call this a "film" would almost be unfair, because it's a compilation of interviews. But just like the best of films, you find in Be Still a plot (and subplots) and engaging dialogue and interesting characters. The idea behind the film is to get to the heart of one of the most misunderstood aspects of the Christian faith. Meditation, called here contemplative prayer, is often mentioned in the Bible. But when someone talks about it today a vague uneasiness enters the air. It brings at best images of monks locked away in some monastary, and at its worst it is associated with Eastern mysticism. Either of these images is unfair, for when properly used meditation can be a central way to make yourself available for God to work in your life.

Be Still is aimed at the layperson who is interested in the idea of contemplative prayer but doesn't know where to start. Through interweaving interviews with a vast array of experts, the film provides an excellent overview of the subject including a great introduction to lectio divina or sacred reading, which for centuries was a central discipline practiced by Christians of all stripes.

What makes this film so effective is the sheer diversity of interviewees. From Dallas Willard and Richard Foster to Max Lucado and Beth Moore, there is someone for you to identify with, no matter what your spiritual marinade. While each is coming from a different angle, the film is brilliantly edited along subject lines so that the speakers are picking up on each others' thought and propelling the storyline forward.

I highly recommend this for anyone wanting to enrich their prayer life, no matter what your background. I first watched this via Netflix, but I plan to purchase (at least) a copy so I can share it with others. I think that is one of the secrets of this type of prayer: while you could practice it alone to wonderful results, it really comes alive when practiced in a group setting. I could see this being a tremendous tool for small groups.

Oh, and if the narrator's voice sounds vaguely familiar, that would be none other than actor Judge Reinhold. He and his wife were responsible for creating this wonderful film. Well done, guys...

Need some inspiration?

A buddy of mine who's also a Dylan fan emailed me this link to a recent 60 Minutes piece. It's amazing to think that someone who's song was recently named the best song of the 20th century would blow it off and say that it will just last a week.

Also, as I was looking for information on Anne Lamott's upcoming appearance in Atlanta (it's "sold out", in case you were wondering), I came across this interview. Anne, we're never going to get anywhere until you're honest with your feelings...

The believer-artist

Before I point to this great term I picked up at the fairfax, let me jump on my soapbox for a second. One of my biggest peeves is when somebody says the phrase "let's not get into semantics". I've probably been guilty of it just as much as the next guy, but nine times out of ten, when somebody says that phrase, they're really saying "There's something deeper there, but let's just gloss over it and stay on the surface." If you ever want to see me bite my tongue to the point of bleeding, let me talk for awhile and then butt in and say "let's not get into semantics here."

According to wikipedia:

"Semantics (Greek semantikos, giving signs, significant, symptomatic, from sema, sign) refers to the aspects of meaning that are expressed in a language, code, or other form of representation."

As Eric Maisel has eloquently said in two or three places, the role of an artist is making meaning in the world. So if somebody doesn't want to get into what a word or phrase or an idea means, why do people like me even exist? There's probably a lot that could be unpacked here. There are probably many out there who wish people like myself didn't exits, but let's not get into semantics.

At any rate, Alice at the fairfax brought up a new phrase that I really like. Not sure who first coined it, but the term is "believer-artist", and I think I'm going to incorporate it into my everyday conversation. There's a debate that's been going on at least as long as I've been in music, and probably a lot longer. Are you a "Christian band" or a "band of Christians"? I usually will answer that I'm in a Christian band, but realize there are a lot of artists out there who are called to make art that falls outside of the CCM world. But what if somebody who falls outside of that world wants to make "Christian art"? Do they have to change their whole approach? Or what if I want to write a song that doesn't directly refer to my faith in Christ? Am I to be shunned and banished to a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth?

The idea of the "believer-artist" frees me of this. I'm a believer, and I make art. Sometimes it might fall under the realm of "Christian art", and sometimes it may not. But my belief in a Creator will inform what I myself create. It reminds me of a brilliant quote from Meister Eckhart (there's a whole argument we could get into about Meister Eckhart, and I'm taking this quote a tad out of context because he was talking about personal holiness, but let's not get into semantics here):

"People should not worry as much about what they do but rather about what they are."

Happy Pi Day!

Yup, today, 3/14, is the day we celebrate that little number that is so huge (computers have taken it out to trillions of decimal points and still haven't found any pattern.

File this under "too much information". Whenever someone would ask me to pick a number between 1 and 4 (the point being to show that about 80% of people choose '3'), I used to answer 'pi'.

To celebrate, how about a poem written to help you memorize the digits of pi?

JPod: A Novel, by Douglas Coupland (****1/2 out of 5)

I've long been a fan of Coupland, and I got this book about a year ago, thinking I was going to read it immediately. As is fairly typical around these parts, I just got around to it last week, and finished it last night. With today being Pi Day, that seems appropriate, as Coupland features a pages-long list of the first several thousand digits of pi (with one intentional mistake). If you've ever read Coupland before, this is completely expected, but if you're new to his writing, this might make you want to run screaming. Your reaction would be a good gauge of your interest in Coupland's writing style...

JPod is the account of a group of game programmers who got assigned to the same area for no other reason than that their last names all start with 'J'. During the day, you follow their work life as the skateboarding game they're working on gets sabotaged twice by meddling executives. Their "downtime" (of course there's a big blur between "work time" and "off time" here) includes a whirlwind trip to China to save a coworker who's been sold into slavery; ballroom dancing competitions; odd geek parties; a mom who grows pot in her basement and gets her son to help clean up the messes she gets into; and human smuggling, just to scratch the surface. JPod finds Coupland going to new depths: along with the usual geek culture commentary he has added a dark humor ala the best Quentin Tarantino films. Coupland even manages to work himself into the plot to hilarious results.

This could serve as a great introduction to Coupland for the newbie; those who have been on board since Generation X will be proud of the growth (and no, that's not a cannabis reference).

Another half-marathon

It really doesn't take much to get me to do a race. Ask Randy. We were hanging out at his house a couple of years ago and he invited me to do a marathon with him. I'd never done one before, never even thought of it. But without hesitation (or at least without much hesitation), I agreed. Six months later I was running the Disney Marathon.

I got an email from a friend asking if I was doing the Georgia Marathon. I was instantly inspired and went to the website, only to find the field was closed. It's probably for the best as I've done zero training. But my wife and I, after an ever so slight nudge of encouragement from one of her friends, did go ahead and sign up for the Music City Half Marathon this year.

Today we did our first training run. 7.3 miles along the beautiful Chattahoochee River. The weather and the company and the scenery and the wildlife combined to make this easily one of my best 10 or 15 runs ever. As we're running and I'm looking at the Hooch lazily meandering by, I start thinking, ala Batman:

"I've...got...a...plan."

More on that "plan" in a few days...

Making a Literary Life

A couple of years ago, in a long list of (mostly) unfulfilled New Years' Resolutions, I listed "Become more literary". I think I even followed that resolution with the phrase "whatever that means". Fast forward to last week. I'm walking through a local bookstore (I do that a lot) and I come across this book called Making a Literary Life by Carolyn See. I picked it up just because the title was so ironic after my New Years' Resolution. I didn't really think I'd read it. I started skimming a couple of interesting passages. Then I read a little bit more. Now I've just about finished it, albeit in a completely random fashion. It is at times hilarious and at other times heartbreaking. But there is never a dull moment. And there is some great advice contained within its pages.

See recommends writing 1000 words a day, five days a week. While this is specifically aimed at writers, any creator could take this idea to heart. The idea here is to immerse yourself in what See calls the "dailyness" of creation. It takes you out of the realm of fantasy and into the world of reality (See uses the analogy of marriage vs. romance). The other main idea of the book, and the idea I found to be the most interesting, is to write "charming notes" to authors, editors, and agents. I don't know why, but this struck me as the most "literary" idea of the book. I just get this image of Tolkien or Hemingway jotting off notes to other writers, and I like the image. You don't? Well, go check out AOL and leave me alone...

The subtitle of the book is "Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers". I guess I fall somewhere in between these two titles. I've picked up a pen a few times, mostly in the interest of song lyrics, and I would definitely consider myself a dreamer. But I would recommend this book for anyone who is intrigued by the idea of "becoming more literary" (whatever that means).