Diaries from Detroit, vol. 6: Change and Community

We're rounding the last corner of our time here in Detroit. In some ways, I feel that I am just getting started; just getting to become a part of the community here and feel that I have a place and a position to do things for this community. But at the same time I'm starting to realize just how much is changing in me personally, in the church I work at, and in this community.

This past week was a rough one. The heat index was well beyond 100 degrees, and without air conditioning in our house, I've barely had a decent night's sleep all week. The kids at the day camp were raucous and whinny, making it hard to keep a positive attitude with them. I was in a funk of missing home, missing the people and the places, and wanting badly to be swimming with family, or hiking with friends, or just seeing the Philadelphia or New York skyline.

But alas, "All Things Must Pass" fell into my mind as I saw things changing, as I looked back and saw difference from before, as I looked forward and saw hope for things to come. I was struck with positivity, despite the heat and the longing, and my heart smiled as I went into the final day of the camp for the week. With this new positive energy, I noticed better attitudes from the kids, I more easily coped with the heat, I had a great phone call from home, and I felt once again at peace.

All along I have wondered what effect the day camp really has on this community. Gradually I came to accept it and understand that I was doing good work through positive feedback from the parents and grandparents, but I still wondered what effect it might have on the larger community. Truth be told, only time will tell what this camp does for this church and this community. It depends on whether the camp has a second season next summer, if it ends up bringing families into the church, or if it has a continued and lasting positive impact on the children and their families. But this past week I learned of the extreme struggles this church, which I have come to love in the past few weeks, has experienced in the last ten years. Due to massive internal difficulties and disputes, the church lost 1400 people. It was so low down that it had considered closing its doors. But the resilience and efforts of a few people faithful to the church kept it going. It has lived on and really turned around since its struggles, having added several ministries that benefit the congregation and the community a great deal. But it has yet to reach out to a younger population or families. This day camp is the first time that children have been present in this church en masse in about ten years. To the congregation, it's practically a miracle. To be a part of this effort is humbling, and having a true scope of the work we're doing has shaken me.

Another worry of mine when I first arrived was that the brief window in which I'm here is not enough to truly become a part of a community. I never thought my introverted personality could quickly assert myself into an entirely new place. But I was so wrong. I feel tied to this community already. I feel a responsibility towards it, and a deep love and care for it. I have met some incredibly loving and wonderful people here and have in turn been accepted and loved by so many more.

Last Sunday, I was asked to lead worship at Metro UMC. Andrew, the great organist and music director here that I have come to admire so much, was on leave and asked me to lead worship-- not just one or two songs, but the entire thing. It was a daunting task, but it was incredibly humbling to be asked to do this. I practiced intently the nine new hymns I had to learn before Sunday, and came to enjoy them thoroughly. Andrew also hired a professional singer to perform with me. Meeting with him the Friday before the service was fantastic. I ended up singing tenor while he sang bass, and I got chills as we practiced these beautiful hymns in such a spectacular space. Sunday, the congregation took the change from a massive pipe organ to two singers and an acoustic guitar quite well. I worried that the elderly congregation would not be open to the change, but they took it with grace and it ended up being a beautiful and unique worship experience. So many of my worries in this experience have turned out to not be issues at all.

Beyond the Metro church community, I was asked to perform at St. Peter's Episcopal Church "Festival for the Arts" on Friday night. The church has close ties to the Jeanie Wylie Community in which I live, which is how I got involved with Friday night's fundraiser. It ended up being the first cool evening all week, yet the un-air conditioned sanctuary was blistering. Nevertheless, a full house packed in for the festival, which featured about a dozen artists including myself. There were some really fantastic performances from poets, singers, and players with an eclectic sound to each of them. Again, it was humbling to perform a set along side seasoned artists. I was by far the youngest player there, but I was shocked to hear from many in attendance how much they enjoyed my set. It was an interesting night in how the heat and the pressure of performing in front of an entirely new audience seemed to take every thing out of me; wring me out completely dry, and yet the love of the community there and the beauty of the art shared sustained me through the struggle.

All this is to say that there have been forces beyond my own that have allowed me to achieve more than I ever thought possible in my time here. Reflection on what's happened here has brought me to tears and brought me to my knees. The work of the holy spirit has been slow, but it is powerful and full of light and beauty.

Diaries from Detroit, vol. 2: Kids Songs, Organs, Motown Legends, Recording, and Hippy Group Singing

I am astonished at what a musical community I have found and already become a part of in my first two weeks here in Detroit. For one, as the music director for the day camp I have been teaching music to the kids here each day. Its exhausting, but great to have music be a part of my day-to-day life again. I am working on music with the kids alongside the Music Director and organist of Metro UMC, Andrew Galuska. He's a phenomenal organist playing an incredible instrument. Metro has the second largest pipe organ in the state of Michigan, 30th largest in the U.S., and 80th in the world. I've had the great privilege of playing it and, of course, hearing it almost every day.

Its such a treat to work at Metro UMC with its vibrant community of music. Besides the fantastic organ, it has a weekly jazz concert that brings in Motown legends... for free. So Tuesdays after work I'm treated to a free jazz concert at my workplace. So far I've heard Fernetta Davis sing with her pianist, and this week Maryanne Robinson sang with Rob Jones of the Funk Bros on piano. Simply incredible.

On my first day in Detroit, I was speaking with a security guard at the church and he told me how he was trying to put together a recording studio and he had a few hip-hop artists ready to work with him. I told him about my recording experience, and he gave Parple a listen that night. The next day, he found me to tell me how much he loved our album "But Why, Sir?" and that he was interested in bringing me into his studio to work with his artists. That Saturday I went in and ended up cutting a track with them. We recorded a few loops live on my acoustic guitar, then the producer layed down some beats, and I topped them with some lines on the keyboard. So I have now officially recorded in Motown. Check that one off the bucket list. The track should be up soon. It was an amazing experience to work in a genre I have really very little knowledge of, and it was equally engaging for them as they had never worked with a live musician before. They were truly excited about it, and felt that they were breaking new ground in hip-hop. I love learning experiences that are mutually engaging.

In my neighborhood in South West Detroit, we live in an "intentional community." Basically, a group of hippies moved here decades ago with the intention of living together and supporting each other through community gardening, get togethers, and lifestyle choices. Every Wednesday night we have a community bonfire. Skeptical of this place at first, I went to my first bonfire this past week and had a blast. As it turns out, (unsurprisingly), hippies listen to the same music that I do. So when Julie, a fantastic guitarist and singer (who sounds like Joan Baez), brought her guitar out, the entire community was singing together. I brought my guitar over and became a part of the action. It was a magical night singing and playing together with my new community. Meeting people through music is deeply intimate and binding. After that night, I was invited to play at a fundraiser in Detroit in mid-July.

Its such a delight to find myself in the middle of this beautiful music community so soon after arriving in Detroit.

Peace, Art, Beauty

I'm afraid I can't find any real words for this video other than: "phenomenal."

"What's your favorite band??" Answers to an Annoying Question

I've been guilty of it too-- the ubiquitous, annoying, get-to-know-you question, "What's your favorite band?" It impossibly simplifies an immensely complex and loaded question for any musician with any self respect, and probably for any mature music-listener. So when someone asks me, and they actually seem the least bit interested in my answer, I go off on my five minute lecture that follows:

You see, being an immensely complex question that truly has taken years to formulate an answer, I cannot honestly tell you one band or artist that has inspired me, entertained me, and fulfilled me enough to be considered "my favorite." And what's more, the particular band or artist that at any given moment is topping my iTunes playlists or is stuck in my head or infecting my thoughts and actions or reflecting in my guitar playing, is always changing-- that comes as a function of being a living, breathing, human being. But, rather than leaving you with this arrogant little speech demeaning your simple and well-intentioned question, I have taken the time, in my head, over a period of time spanning long before you ever intended to ask me this question, to formulate a, somewhat concise, but, holistic response to this question that, at least for a good amount of time, should be a more-or-less unchanging and consistent answer.

My response is broken into five categories, as there cannot be one, true "favorite" artist. They are as follows:

The most cohesive and functional band (favorite band), The most effective and moving artist (favorite artist), the most talented songwriter, the best mind for creating rock and roll music, and the band most competent at performing music. The winners of each category are as follows:

Band: The Beatles. For me, personally, the Beatles have an especially important place as they were the band I listened to during my "musical renaissance," an awakening that opened my eyes to music and, for the first time, made me truly listen to music. My informed opinion about them still holds that they are the most cohesive and functional band, meaning that as four musicians banded together to create music, they do a damn good job of it. They produce variety, which creates interest, yet they have a trademark sound and an awfully high percentage of their songs have a great deal of soul and meaning. So as a young, first time listener, they win this category, and as a more mature, well-rounded listener and musician, they still win. Notable songs: Here Comes the Sun, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Blackbird, Two of Us

Artist: George Harrison.  As a subsection of the last category, George Harrison held a particularly important place, seeing as he penned the songs from the aforementioned that most deeply effected me. As I have dug into his solo material, the resonance his songs have with me grows deeper with time. I cannot express in a short blurb the power George's songs have had in affecting, changing, and shaping my life, both as a musician and a person. Notable songs: Beware of Darkness, My Sweet Lord, The Light That Has Lighted the World, Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)

Songwriter: Bob Dylan. This is obvious. You probably saw this coming. Do I really need to explain this one? I listen to Dylan all the time, he never gets old. His songwriting is masterful and can hold new meaning with each listen. Notable songs: Hurricane, If Not for You, Simple Twist of Fate, A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Rock and Roll mind: Elvis Costello. Not to be confused with Elvis Presley. This guy can write a rock and roll song like no other. He knows the difference between rock and roll and pop (this could lead to a music theory discussion), understands its roots and influences, and has been forging a fresh path for a genre that should always be pioneering for his entire career. Notable songs: Peace Love and Understanding (yes, I know Nick Lowe wrote this, but Elvis just kills it), No Dancing, I Want You, Uncomplicated

Performance: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. See my post from a year ago on The Boss. Basically, this guy, and his band, know how to put on a show because they play from the soul. Its never just about the music with these guys. And that's why, in one show, I'm moved to tears (from emotion and also laughter), screaming with joy, dancing till I drop, and singing till my lungs give out. Notable songs: Thunder Road, Jungle Land, The Rising, Land of Hopes and Dreams. This guy's not too shabby at songwriting, either. 

Artists that didn't make any particular category but should have: Paul Simon, M. Ward, Johnny Cash, Neil  Young, Ludwig van Beethoven, Joan Baez, Glen Hansard, Stevie Wonder

I hope that answers your question.

Time to Revive this thing

Not wanting to let this thing go to the wayside, but coming up dry on what to write about, I'll start this post with a clip of some incredibly powerful music-- as all things should.



Mumford and Sons blew the doors off the Grammys this year, playing with raw power and emotion. This is a band with nothing to hide, made evident by the way in which they put their all into their performances. You can read every emotion in their faces, their voices, and their instruments. Its passionate, exciting, and empowering. I feel alive every time I watch this video. A lot of bands perform with high emotion-- and its great. But here there's a moment of sheer bliss as the band ignites with the horn section behind them (see 1:50) and the singer Marcus Mumford looks up with a face exuding what it means to be truly alive...

My band, Parple, has started playing shows in New York City and we know that the only way to get anywhere in this is if we put all of our energy into every show we play. But beyond leaping around the stage and jumping and screaming to catch an audience's attention, putting everything you have into playing music is, to me, the most pure form of happiness. When I truly get into the music I am playing, its the rare moment seldom experienced otherwise where I am truly living absolutely and singularly in the moment, feeling truly happy, truly passionate, and, when with other musicians, truly in solidarity with those around me. There is no cynicism in those moments, no doubts, no despair. Its a transcendent moment of absolute bliss.

How then can this translate into our daily lives? How can this emotion-- this wonderful, freeing, whole feeling-- last beyond the three and a half minutes of the song? I don't yet know the answer, but I do not that it can happen, and its a beautiful thing to work towards.

Here's another clip of musicians living passionately in the moment-- Billy Preston, George Harrison, and others at The Concert for Bangla Desh playing "That's The Way God Planned It." (See 3:20- Billy leaps off the organ, dancing in ecstasy as George looks in with a smile of absolute delight.) Enjoy!

Parple- "But Why, Sir?"

My band, Parple's, full-length debut album has officially been released. Download it now for free on parple.net. Available soon on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, and virtually anywhere else that music is sold online.

Enjoy!

Miles From Nowhere, I guess I'll take my time

"Miles from nowhere/ I guess I'll take my time/ Oh yeah, to reach there. Look up at the mountain/ I have to climb/ Oh yeah, to reach there... Lord my body has been a good friend/ But I won't need it when I reach the end... Miles from nowhere/ Guess I'll take my time/ Oh yeah, to reach there... I love everything/ So don't it make you feel sad/ 'cause I'll drink to you, my baby/ I'll think to that, I'll think to that... Miles from nowhere/ Not a soul in sight/ Oh yeah, but it's alright...

"I have my freedom/ I can make my own rules/ Oh yeah, the ones that I choose... Lord my body has been a good friend/ But I won't need it when I reach the end...

"Miles from nowhere/ Guess I'll take my time/ Oh yeah, to reach there."

-Cat Stevens

But Why, Sir? New Album from Parple

Forgive my shameless self promotion, but my excitement can't be contained as I share the outcome of several months of hard work. Earlier this summer, I joined a new band with some old friends out of South Jersey and New York City called Parple. Since then, we've been working furiously on our debut album, "But Why, Sir?" to be released this December.

I've played many live shows as a lead guitarist in my relatively short career so far with bands promoting their own albums and original music and have always enjoyed it. But I've never had the privilege and honor of working in a recording studio on an album, and even have my own creative input utilized. It's a tedious process, but a thrilling one at that. Its remarkably exciting to watch a piece of music slowly unfold before your ears.

I have to also say that the band, featuring a lineup of old high school buddies, one of which I was formerly in a band with, is a fantastic collection of some of the greatest musical minds I have personally known and worked with. Collaborating on this music with them has challenged my own skills and made me a better musician. The music on the album is a collection that piano player Todd Selby wrote on his own as well as with best friend and drummer Alex Terruso, after previous stints in a band called the Claques. Entering college, the band, and the friendship, crumbled over petty issues. But alas, reconciliation achieved, the duo returned to song writing and decided to expand their field of creative input and invited the remarkably talented bassist, Steve Conroy, and myself on guitar, before entering the studio to cut their debut album under the new name, Parple.

The band, as a stroke of fortune, all happens to live in New York City after meeting in high school in South Jersey, and as such looks forward to playing shows there once the album is released. It is my great privilege to introduce the first sample of the album, "But There Will Be Free T-Shirts," available now on the Facebook page.

Also, coming soon, the new website, parple.net

Bluegrass Revelation

Couch-bound due to a wisdom teeth operation, I've had plenty of time in the past few days to soak in the boob tube. One program that I've found and particularly enjoyed is PBS's "WoodSongs." They bring on whole ranges of bluegrass and other acoustic performers, all of them exceptionally talented.

On the show tonight was bluegrass legend Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver. Lawson, an aged mandolin player who grew up in Tennessee growing up to the sounds of bluegrass and gospel, learning from his father, has tended to glean away from his own voice in favor of 3 and 4 part harmonies. As a result, he and his band Quicksilver have won the International Bluegrass Music Award for Best Vocal Group seven years in a row.

I was blown away by the musicianship both instrumentally and vocally. Two songs that the played stopped me dead in my tracks, and I'm anxious to share them with anyone who will give them a listen. Unfortunately, I cannot find the recordings from the show on YouTube, but these videos will have to do.

The first one is an a capella number that is truly stunning. "He Made it All Right" by Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver:

And the second one is a bit more upbeat, its sure to knock your socks off. "Blue Train" by Doyle Lawson:

Lessons from the Boss

I am enamored by Bruce Springsteen... and I've put a lot of time into figuring out why. Few other artists have made me cry so many times, laugh so many times, and inspired me as much as he has. I think part of the key to this ability is that for Bruce, its not a one-trick game. Its not just the songwriting, not just the showmanship, not just the craft, not just the sound. Music is a confluence of all of the emotions, talents, and abilities of his mind, body, and soul as well as those of the musicians he plays with. And it appears as though he approaches his music the same way he approaches his life-- there isn't an "on" switch he flicks when he goes on stage or into the studio. He's just Bruce Springsteen, all the time, which lends his craft authenticity.

But tactics aside, it is the result of this process that is what has captured me and countless others: When the man goes on stage, he exudes energy, appearing to be bursting out of his own skin ignited by the Holy Spirit of all things musical, emotional, powerful; and everyone around him-- the musicians and audience alike-- can't help but get caught up in that same spirit. For those moments of ecstasy I experience listening to the Boss, I am at once free of the things that bring me down, and intimately in touch with the things that I love.

The feeling I come away with, after the ecstasy, on the drive home from the concert or at the end of the album, is one of admiration, especially as a guitarist, songwriter, and performer; and a nagging question of "how can I become more like this man that I admire me so?" But lets look at the facts: what I like so much about Bruce is the way he approaches what he does with every ounce of his body and soul. Throw your heart and soul into it. This is something I can do. Now, there tends to be a notion of intangibility when you look at celebrities and admire them. But its important to remember that celebrities are just samplings of people, and that there are people who aren't celebrities that have these same qualities. There is nothing about being a "celebrity" that implies that their qualities are intangible.

I think when we allow ourselves to become so absorbed by a celebrity, we have the tendency to let ourselves down. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with celebrities, or admiring them, but its important to keep our heads in reality, looking out for those qualities we admire in the stars, in real people that we see on the streets, at school, or in our groups of friends. Its people that we admire, celebrities and those around us alike, that inspire us and allow us to grow.

This video clip is from his second appearance on Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... and is a great example of how his energy fuels the band and audience alike. As much as I love the E Street Band, I like how this isn't the E Street Band-- it's Elvis's band-- because it shows how Bruce can fuel any band to play with that kind of energy. Enjoy!