Category: z-Miscellaneous

The current issue of the New Yorker has an interesting piece on the history of Christian rock. You can read it here.

Closer to home….

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Back in the summer before my senior year of high school, a bunch of us who called ourselves the Fellowship of Friends (FoF) set off for a music festival in the Allegheny Mountains, not far off the Pennsylvania Turnpike east of Pittsburgh.  Dubbed “Jesus ’75,” it was an event for the Woodstock-wannabe Jesus Freak crowd.  In short, it was perfect for FoF.

At the time American Evangelicalism as we know it today was still a work in progress. Jimmy Carter hadn’t yet been elected president – that came a year later. And the so-called Christian music industry was still in its infancy.  Amy Grant and U2 and praise music on overhead projectors in mega-churches were all just getting off the ground.

At Jesus ’75 there was a pianist and singer named Keith Green who was a big draw for us in FoF.  His style was mostly pop, with plenty of bouncy tunes and show-offy piano riffs. We all lapped it up like the sticky sweet mess of manna it was.

I’ll never forget the moment after he came on stage and played the first upbeat number – received with wild applause – and he just stood there, shaggy-haired, gazing down at us, pensive.   And we all stood there looking back up at him, rapt.  After what seemed like an eternity but probably in reality only lasted 5 seconds, he said in a small, tired voice, “You are all… just… so… SELFISH!”

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Stunned silence? That would be an understatement.

He went on to relate how several in our number from the crowd were currently in a nearby medical tent being treated for drug overdose. He invited us to pray for their recovery.  I have no earthly idea whether what he said was true.  Was this was some kind of Christian rock festival gimmick planted by our parents to keep us in line?  But looking around at all those scruffy teen-aged faces framed with big 70’s hair and an utter lack of impulse control, I could pretty well imagine it went down exactly like he said.

In any case, the show went on.  Rains came later that night and turned the fields where we camped into a quagmire. But our spirits remained buoyant, either with, or without, chemical assistance, I do not recall. And if asked to testify, I will not speak.  In the end, FoF survived the weekend intact, and we all went home, muddy, exhausted, and exuberant.

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A few years later on a hot July day, a light plane went down shortly after take-off from a small airstrip in Texas. All 12 people aboard were killed – including Keith Green and 2 of his 4 young children. The NTSB said the plane was dangerously overloaded and blamed pilot error – along with an aviation condition known as “hot and high” – for the crash.

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Although only 28 when he died, Keith Green was possessed of a wisdom beyond his years when he wrote these lyrics:

My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to You and dead to me.

But what can be done
For an old heart like mine
Soften it up
With oil and wine
The oil is You, Your Spirit of love
Please wash me anew
With the wine of Your Blood.

Album cover:  “For Him Who Has Ears to Hear”

Someone was supposed to post these Mendocino photos on Facebook, but then school started and, well, you know. But someone else (Thanks, Ben!) showed me this great site to transfer files up to 2 gig – wetransfer.com – and the rest is history.  Enjoy.  We did.

<Info and links for attractions at the bottom.>

Photo credit for all:  Anne Wolf

B&B

Didjeridoo Dreamtime Inn
44860 Main St.
Mendocino, CA
(707) 937-6200

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

18220 North Highway One
Fort Bragg, CA 95437 USA
Tel.: (707)964-4352

Point Arena Lighthouse

P.O. Box 11
45500 Lighthouse Road
Point Arena, CA 95468
PH: 877-725-4448 or 707-882-2809

This one is for friends and family at Lindenhof Farm, fine folk who not only know how to make a tender chicken but also how to appreciate a good chicken/egg joke.  Because some days all you really have to say is summed up perfectly by a New Yorker cartoon.

“Our research has proved that the chicken came not just before the egg but before anything else in the known universe.”

Talking about password security is a guaranteed crowd-snoozer, but hear me out. The hard reality is password security is extremely important.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili evinces some stoic sentiment, but Malgorzata says, “Hili is pretending.”

Cyrus: Am I pressing on your paw?

Hili: A bit but suffering ennobles.

Cyrus: Nie uciskam ci łapki?
Hili: Trochę, ale cierpienie uszlachetnia.

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Oh, and also this from Eoin Kelleher‏ @eoinyk:

Dinner party with some old EDS’ers tonight.

With any luck, the neighbors will complain.

That is all.

St Kitts and Nevis (Nevis is the smaller island to the bottom right).

From the sea, Nevis (pronounced “knee-vis”) resembles a green nipple.  It is elegantly symmetrical, a tropical volcano ringed with golden beaches. By surface area it is roughly the equivalent of Pittsburgh, yet its peak is taller than any mountain in Pennsylvania, so the whole island slopes upwards starting gently where the beach bars shelter among the palm trees, then steadily steepening while the tree cover gets denser.  If you hike up the peak you are in true rain forest and will find yourself scrutinized by monkeys in the overhanging greenery.

It is a gorgeous place much frequented by famous people.  Recently John Cleese said he was so fed up with how things are being run where he lives that he is moving to Nevis for good.  “It’s one of the nicest islands I’ve ever been to,” he said.   “The children and adults are extraordinarily well-educated, the weather’s good the whole time, I’m very lucky.”

The island was once a major center for sugar growers and slave traders but it slipped into obscurity in the 18th century when it was out-competed by larger and more fertile rivals.  In the 19th century, Britain added it to neighboring St Kitts for administrative purposes so it was as the junior half of the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis that it became independent in 1983.

Long Haul Bay, Nevis.

For Americans, Nevis is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, also of the $10-bill and, more recently, of Broadway fame.  In the days since the financial meltdown of the mid-2000s Nevis has become notorious as an offshore financial haven – loosely regulated, lightly taxed, and fiercely private – much like the Cayman Islands or Switzerland once were – a place where gains (ill-gotten or not) can be stashed safe from the long arm and prying eyes of governments, drug prosecutors, and divorce attorneys.  Think of it as a good place to incorporate your LLC, assuming you’re not already incorporated in the state of Delaware – but I digress.

Disclaimer:   DEW Consulting, LLC, is incorporated in the state of Delaware.

So sue me.

Absolutely nothing of interest happened on this day in history. Whodathunkit?

So here’s a tree instead.

😉