It's an incredibly busy week for me. We have a great event at PCC every year called "Christmas in the Village." We turn the campus into a little village, complete with a cafe (live music), boutique, family photo spot, preschool activities, kids' reading corner, family craft area, theater (live drama) and concert with choir, kids' choir, bells and brass. It's a lot of work, and I'm pretty maxed out. SO, due to my lack of time and need for mindless entertainment... Here are a few diversions for you to enjoy. Honestly, these are probably the funniest things I've seen this year.

The first is called "The Gallery of Regrettable Food" by James Lileks. I first picked this up in book form at Mike Roe's house in Sacramento. He has it sitting on an end table, and I grabbed it once when I was bored. I ended up reading it on and off for weeks on end. I would start to giggle, and then I would feel stupid, so I would shake silently and cry... and he would notice and ask me to read what was so funny, and I couldn't, because I knew I would sound so stupid... I was just crying, it was so funny. I am honestly starting to laugh right now as I type this... It's that funny. Mike's girlfriend thought I was insane, I think. Here's the online version. I hope you like it. Don't miss "Son of Cooking with Seven-Up" and my favorite, "10 P.M. Cookery."

Next, Dear Readers, I offer up the delightful Lark News. It's a Christian news spoof site, and you've got to see it to believe it. One particularly good month was August 2004, which included "VeggieTales Exclusive: Where Are They Now?" and "Woman Embalmed, Bronzed in Favorite Pew." And then there's my personal favorite: "Animatronic Band Takes Guesswork Out of Worship," from the April 2004 issue.

And finally, the funniest video I've seen this year. Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce John Daker.

Today is Thanksgiving, and to celebrate, I've asked my kids to join me in being thankful. Here are their responses to the question "What are you thankful for?"

Jake: Uh... Thanksgiving holidays, family and friends, trees (cuz they give you paper and air), you, shelter and water and food, and Mom... Emily, Zachary, Josh, and me.

Emily: Elise and Noah and... and I'm thankful for mmmm.... all the other Rhens, and I'm thankful for... Thanksgiving and Halloween and my notebook and I'm thankful for you, I'm thankful for you. Dad, you're on my list! And I'm thankful for um... I'm thankful for my name. My letters. And I'm thankful for everybody in the world. And for Grandma and Grandpa. And I'm thankful for Anthony and Dominic and Lisa, and I'm thankful for the Smith's house. I'm thankful for Jeff's house, Dad! And I'm thankful for um... the Johnny Rocket's people. That's all. Your turn, Josh!

Josh: I'm thankful for my family, computers, rollercoasters, birthday parties, Christmas, Halloween, time, movies, the outside, frisbees, vacations, phones, friends, and music. My dad's CD, blah blah blah. [spelling it out] E. T. C. [You want me to put that?] Yeah. Blah blah blah. E.T.C.

Zach: Um... My name and my Thomas train. My computer. Ummm... CDs, cars and trains and cars and trains! Computer games!

I'm grateful for many things today. I'm grateful for a God who has captured my heart, who has loved me with a passion that I can't even describe. I'm grateful for a God whose love is not based on my ability to earn it. I'm grateful for a God whose heart is turned toward me with love and affection.

I'm thankful for Luanne. Her uncommon beauty, her strength, her constant good humor, her passion for life, her fierce devotion to her kids and me, her dedication to God, her willingess to walk with me through all the good and bad of life, her vulnerability.

I'm thankful for my children. I never dreamed that I would have four kids someday. That I would awaken each morning to these little human beings climbing all over me, hugging and snuggling and begging for breakfast. ("Let's go upstairs! C'mon... It's Seven Zero Zero!") I'm thankful every day for the chance to love and be loved by them.

For extended family and for all my friends, I am grateful. For music and movies and art, I am grateful.For a great job and community at Peninsula Covenant Church, I am grateful. For a chance to fulfill my dream of making a record... and to do it with one of my heroes, Mike Roe, I am grateful. For the dinner that is to come and for the fact that I'm on vacation and still in my pajamas at 11:00am, I am grateful...

But I'd better go get dressed.

Friday night I wrote about my reactions to the new Harry Potter film. My son, Josh, and I have enjoyed the books together, and we had a great time seeing the film on its opening night here in Redwood City.

As a Christian (and a minister particularly), I am sometimes asked about how I can possibly be a fan of, and even an advocate of, the Harry Potter series. I'm sure everyone's heard the concerns about the witchcraft and wizardry in the series, and I cannot deny that every book and every movie is FULL of spells, curses, dark magic, broomsticks and the like. I don't blame Christians for being discerning, and I think it's great that parents are trying to guard their kids from evil. I try to do that too. But after looking at the evidence, reading a lot of articles, and perhaps most importantly, reading the books and seeing the films for myself, I have come to the conclusion that Harry is not only fine, he's good for us. His epic battle with evil, all the while being a fallen person who battles the evil within himself, mirrors my everyday experience! And we see clearly that, in the end, good wins. Love saves the day.

I want to add more fule to the fire by posting some resources for those of you who are wondering about this for yourselves. Maybe you're a Christian battling false guilt for secretly enjoying this series. Maybe you're someone who's decided that this is not for you or your children, for whatever reason. And maybe you're not even a religious person and you're wondering, "What's the big deal?" Read on...

First, the naysayers... Here's the Plugged In review. Plugged In is "a web site of Focus on the Family [Dr. James Dobson] shining a light on the world of popular entertainment." They are probably the most conservative of all the Christian review sites. Their final take? "Whether it’s grim treachery or comic relief, the film’s wall-to-wall sorcery is birthed from a faulty worldview that taps into the occult and never recognizes any divine authority."

Dick Staub, at Faithandculture.com, writes "With every new Harry Potter movie I find myself drawn into a debate, seemingly unavoidably, I wish not to be part of. I refer of course to the battle between those who oppose the Harry Potter series as antithetical to faith, and those who are thrilled to see their kids reading, and who find the series imaginative, believing also that it provides teachable moments." More here...

Hollywood Jesus is a great resource, with tons of links, reviews and resources. Check it out.

I especially appreciate Relevant Magazine's take on the series.

Peter Chattaway, at Christianity Today, writes a great review here.

Finally, here's a wrap-up from Christianity Today, with lots more links and thoughts on the subject.

Happy reading and thinking! May God give us wisdom as we interact with the culture He's graciously placed us in!

Two words: See it.

OK, now a few more. Josh and I went to see HP4 tonight; of course, the line was already out the door when we arrived 45 minutes early. We went to the 7:30pm show on the Friday night the movie opened, so I knew it would be like that. Honestly, we were lucky to get two seats together. And right on the aisle!

The movie was spectacular. Mike Newell directed the screenplay, written by Steven Kloves. Newell is the first British director of this quintessentially British series, and he does a masterful job of bringing Book 4 to life. I was particularly impressed by Kloves's script, which manages to take Rowling's 734 pages and fit them into 2-1/2 hours without making you feel like you're missing much.

You are missing a lot, of course. In the book, for instance, the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang don't arrive until page 228. They're on the screen within 15 minutes of the film's opening. That's a lot of editing. Ludo Bagman, a central character in the book, is nowhere to be found in the movie. (What he does in the book is handled in the film by the character of Barty Crouch.)

But enough about what's missing. What's there is amazing. Madame Maxime, Viktor Krum, Cedric Diggory, Rita Skeeter and Voldemort are perfect. The Quidditch World Cup scenes, though painfully short, are astonishing. I loved the depictions of Harry battling the dragon in the first Triwizard task, the bottom of the lake where the mer-people live, the maze that seems to stretch on and on forever, the very creative scene where Sirius and Harry talk through the fireplace, and the Yule Ball. Oh, and Ron's dress robes.

Harry, Ron and Hermione are growing up and adolescence is upon them, which adds great human drama to everything. Neville Longbottom remains one of my favorite characters in the whole series. His dancing in this movie (as well as his painful scene with Mad-Eye early on) are wonderful. Cho Chang is a welcome addition to the series. Harry's crush on her makes him seem all the more real. My son Josh said she was prettier than he expected. I guess Josh is growing up!

My favorite new addition was Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, played by Brendan Gleeson. He was better than I could have hoped for. He looked and sounded and acted just like someone called "Mad-Eye" should.

Only Fleur Delacour seemed oddly flat to me. In the book, the Veela seem to shimmer. In the movie, they just kinda walk. There was nothing particularly heroic or even beautiful about Fleur, and she hardly seems like the kind of girl who would have Ron in a tizzy. Maybe it was just poor casting.

The regulars are great: Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid, Snape. I'm hoping they all live long enough to see the series through to the end. (Hang in there, Maggie...) Of course, we lost Richard Harris after the first two movies and Michael Gambon has filled in quite nicely, thank you.

Off to bed for tonight. Next week: Rent!

My blogging mentor is also one of my best friends. His name is Curt Hendley, a.k.a. "The Happy Husband." His blog's stated intent is "celebrating marriage in a hostile world." He's been at it since August 20, 2003, when he posted his first post, which beautifully describes the whole feel of his blog:

"I live in a culture that is hostile to marriage as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman. It celebrates weddings, yes, but it also celebrates divorces. Why wouldn’t it? We hear more about happy divorces than we do about happy marriages. And even bitter divorces serve to reinforce the idea that marriage makes people miserable—just think how much worse off those pitiful people would be had they stayed married.

It's been a long time since I blogged, and I have so many things to talk about I don't know where to start.

First, personal. Sunday was a joy for me because I got to baptize my son Jacob. I thank God for a son who is following in the ways of Jesus.

Second, Paste. Have you heard about this magazine? I have been a big fan and subscriber from the very first issue. They started out as a quarterly and now they're publishing every other month. I am sure there will be monthly issues in the near future. It's a fast-growing, well-respected magazine that covers music and film and culture from a unique perspective. Its tagline is "Signs of Life in Culture," and it celebrates excellent art that flies just under the mainstream radar. I appreciate that it does not exclude music or art by people of faith as long as the music or art in question is good. Where else will you find music by Mark Heard, Sara Groves and Terry Scott Taylor taken seriously alongside music by Bright Eyes, Death Cab for Cutie and Lucinda Williams? And while it celebrates "best-kept secret" music like Over the Rhine and Denison Witmer, it is not afraid to promote great music by mainstream artists and bands like U2 or Coldplay, niche artists like Pedro the Lion or John Hiatt and "Never Heard of 'Em" artists like The High Llamas, . Oh, and did I mention that with every issue they include a free sampler CD (usually with 20+ songs on it) and a DVD (with music videos, live music, short films, movie trailers, etc.)? It's a great deal... I highly recommend it. Paste introduced me to some of my favorite artists through their samplers: Rufus Wainwright (I still remember hearing I Don't Know What It Is from "Want One" for the first time...), Erin McKeown (Cinematic from "Grand"), Hem (Half Acre from "Rabbit Songs") and The Incredible Moses Leroy (Transmission C from "Become the Soft.Lightes"). Oh man, can't forget Joseph Arthur (Can't Exist from "Our Shadows Will Remain"), Josh Rouse (Love Vibration from "1972") and Shannon McNally (The Worst Part of a Broken Heart from "Geronimo.")

I cannot wait for several movies: Joshua and I are big fans of the Harry Potter books, so we're planning to see "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" this Saturday. Luanne and I saw "Rent" on stage in San Jose a few years ago, and it was amazing. We're excited about the film version, opening next Wednesday, which was mostly filmed here in San Francisco. Our friend Tony even had a stand-in scene with Rosario Dawson, and another friend, Heather Powers, sang on the soundtrack. I think "Walk the Line," the Johnny Cash biopic, looks excellent. I'm probably most excited about "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe." I've been a fan of C.S. Lewis for years. I remember loving this book so much that I read it aloud to my new bride in the first year of our marriage. I read it to Josh a few years back (It was the first of our 15+ novels we've read together.), and now I'm reading it to Jacob. All the pre-release buzz indicates that it will be an excellent, faithful-to-the-book rendition. Bring it on!

I think that's it for now. Thanks for reading. Over and out.

How do we Christians represent Jesus to the world? Wednesday night I had the misfortune of seeing Fox's "Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy" in a doctor's waiting room. I only caught the end, where a psychotic woman came home, didn't say one word of greeting to the family she'd been without for two weeks, and screamed and ranted nearly incoherantly about the "terrors" she had experienced at the other home, which she claimed was full of "dark-sided" people. She was insane. She was ordering the cameramen to "get the hell out of here... in Jesus' name!" She was saying stuff like, "Anyone here who loves Jesus can stay, but if you're dark-sided, get out!" It was like nothing I'd ever seen. I can't describe it adequately. Did anyone catch this? I was mortified. I was in the waiting room with three others who were just mocking her, and I thought, "And I'm supposed to share Jesus with them?"

And today our dear friend Pat Robertson is at it again. Remember last summer, when he called for the assasination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez? Well, now he's saying that Dover, Pennsylvania should watch out. School board members who wanted to introduce the concept of intelligent design in the classroom were voted out of their seats on Tuesday. On The 700 Club, Robertson said, "I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God. You just rejected him from your city. And don’t wonder why he hasn’t helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I’m not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that’s the case, don’t ask for his help because he might not be there."

Oh Pat, where is the mercy and grace of our God? Is it just me, or does scripture teach us that it is God's kindness that leads us to repentance?

I'm not sure if Bill O'Reilly has ever claimed to be a Christian, but a lot of Christians claim him, and he's basically saying that it's OK for terrorists to target San Francisco. He's not happy that the citizens of San Francisco voted Tuesday to oppose the presence of military recruiters in city schools and to ban handguns, so he says if HE were the president, he'd march right down into the middle of Union Square and announce, "Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you're not going to get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead. And if al-Qaida comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."

Yes, there are a lot of sinners sinning openly in San Francisco. But God loves every one of them, and He hasn't written off our beautiful city yet. I live about 30 minutes south of San Francisco, and I love it.

Sometimes it just seems like there's so much ugliness in right-wing circles. I don't mind their opinions, but I can't stand the mean-spiritedness.

Oh my gosh... I am feeling sick to my stomach. I just spent 2 hours writing a very clever, well-written post. I reviewed ten songs from my iPod again, and I was really happy with it. I'm telling you, people, it was a classic. All the albums were linked to Amazon... It was beautiful. And it's lost, lost forever. I went to post it and it came up "server not found" or some nonsense like that.

::deep breath::

OK, that's OK. Not important. It was an excellent exercise in blogging, right? I'm a better writer than I was two hours ago.

The good news: I just discovered that I'm on iTunes! My album is now available for download on iTunes. How cool is that?

Not feeling like I have a lot to say tonight. I'm enjoying Myspace... Finding a lot of friends from the past and former students from Desert Christian High School in Lancaster... Not to mention the cool music connections to be found there.

I was so proud of my choir this morning. We rocked out on a Johann Michael Haydn piece from 1787 called "Prope est Dominus (The Lord Is Near)."

Not a whole lot more to say tonight. But look, I've blogged five out of the past seven days! I'm turning into a real blogger...

PS - Anyone know where the title of this post comes from?

I promised further ruminations on film and God... as well as some music reviews. I'm here to deliver.

The first night I was in Pismo Beach, we watched the first episode of The Decalogue, ten short films originally produced for Polish television in the late 80s. Director Krzysztof Kieslowski and his lawyer friend wrote the screenplays. They were fascinated with the idea of real people in the real world interacting with that which is supposedly absolute. So, while the films do not correspond perfectly with the Ten Commandments, there is a definite correlation. Decalogue I is a haunting meditation on God and life and death. It's beautiful and devastating and so, so messy. Just like God.

In the morning sessions, we looked at clips from many films: The Last Temptation of Christ, Bull Durham, Life Is Beautiful, The Shawshank Redemption, The Year of Living Dangerously, Becket, Keeping the Faith, Fight Club, and Dogma.

Bull Durham was written and directed by Ron Shelton, a former Covenanter who attended Montecito Covenant Church in the 1960s. He wanted to play the saxophone and was basically turned down by the elders of the church. He ended up going to Westmont, but upon graduation left the church, never to return. Although the film is basically about sex and baseball, the point was made that for those who have eyes to see, it is a scathing critique of organized religion and a longing for church as it should be... The opening lines talk about "The Church of Baseball" as organ music swells in the background. It's really interesting to watch it from this perspective.

Luanne and I watched Dogma last night, and found it, too, very interesting and entertaining. It was written and directed by Kevin Smith, who is a Catholic whose stated ambition was to present God and the Church to those who would never darken its doors. Warning: The film is crude and graphic in its violence and language. I would never let my kids see it, but I think as Christian adults, we have an obligation to dialogue with people like Kevin Smith who actually have intelligent things to say to us. Christians have done a lot of talking and not enough listening, in my opinion, and entering into the world that a filmmaker has created is one way to listen.

Wednesday night we watched Run Lola Run, a German film made in 1999. It's an amazing movie... Our protagonist, Lola, is given 20 minutes to somehow raise 100,000 Deutschmarks or her boyfriend, Manni, will be killed. The film takes you on three different journeys, each with its own ending. It's frenetic, pulsating... The techno soundtrack only adds to the tension. I think the director is trying to make some kind of statement about our choices in life versus blind chance. I think he's making the case for some kind of God... some transcendence in the universe. It's worth watching.

Again, the speakers for our week were Rob Johnston and Cathy Barsotti. Here are links to two of their books... I highly recommend them: Finding God in the Movies: 33 Films of Reel Faith and Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue.

Music: I haven't had time to really listen to my new music. I can tell you briefly that 1) Sufjan Stevens is a very talented but very strange young man, 2) Tegan and Sara are cool, angst-driven Ani-channelling twins and 3) Frou Frou is entrancing. Imogen Heap's vocals are lush and sensual and acrobatic.

Tonight, Luanne and I will be watching Fahrenheit 9/11. I saw it in the theater with my buddy Brian Rhen, and it's really powerful. Whether you agree with its conclusions or not, it's a powerful piece of filmmaking and worth your time. Enter the conversation!

I finished Ted Dekker and Bill Bright's Blessed Child yesterday. It took me a while to warm up to it, but it was pretty good. The breathless praise on the front from the president of PAX-TV ("The best novel I've ever read!") either means that the president of PAX-TV is not very discerning or that his reading history is shockingly limited. Nevertheless, I was swept up into the story (Isn't that the point? ), and I plan on reading the sequel, A Man Called Blessed, as soon as I can. This has capped off an incredibly busy month of reading fiction for me. I go in spurts, and I haven't read fiction in a long time, but I am apparently very hungry for story, for something to transport me right now. I read Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz first, and it was just a great read. The sequel, Forever Odd, comes out this month, and I can't wait. Next was The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Honestly. It's like I've turned into a middle-aged, Oprah-watching, book-club joining woman! But it was truly a beautiful book. Something about it reminded me of one of my favorite novels, To Kill a Mockingbird, and I don't think it was just the Southern setting and the young female lead. It has a spiritual depth that I found really compelling and vibrant. The characters were quirky and well-developed. Read it! Next up: Another Dean Koontz novel, By the Light of the Moon.

Sleep well, my friends... I'm off to hang out with my wife and Michael Moore.

The big news tonight is that my good friend Curt is a father! Joel Caedmon Hendley was born today at 2:42 pm. He is 10 pounds, 6 ounces and 22 inches long! Congratulations to Curt and "Mrs. Happy"... and if you haven't yet discovered Curt's blog, The Happy Husband, check it out now... It's awesome.

I'm back from Pismo Beach. Tony and I had a great time at the retreat. I'm happy to report that "Robert K. Johnston and Catherine M. Barsotti" have now become "Rob and Cathy." They're really great. We went out with them last night and saw a late showing of North Country. I'll write more about the films we saw and my reaction to them tomorrow.

I found an amazing used CD store in SLO yesterday and bought too many CDs. I found rare CDs by Leslie Phillips, The Swoon, Lost Dogs and Altar Boys. I also found a CD by a twin-sister duo called Tegan and Sara that was produced by my man Hawksley Workman. And to cap it all off, I bought "A Sun Came!" by Sufjan Stevens. Reviews to come.

My latest "must-research" band is Frou Frou. I'm obsessed with a song called "It's Good To Be In Love." I have it on an Alice radio compilation and it's just mesmerizing. I'm heading to the library tomorrow to pick up their proper studio album and I'll let you know how it is. The vocalist I've heard of... Imogen Heap.

OK, heading for bed. G'night.

Why? This seems so senseless... Kyle Lake, the pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco, TX, was killed Sunday morning at a baptism service. He reached for a microphone and was electrocuted. I knew about Kyle and UBC mostly through one of my favorite artists, David Crowder, who is the worship pastor there. Kyle also authored two books, Understanding God's Will: How to Hack the Equation without Formulas and (Re)understanding Prayer: A Fresh Approach to Conversation with God. Here are some reactions and thought from the WWW this morning...

Christianity Today muses on what Kyle might have had to say about his own death by reprinting some of his own writing.

Dan Kimball can't concentrate on preaching as he reflects on this tragedy and on the remarkable coincidence of the death of Mike Yaconelli two years ago to the day.

Brian McLaren remembers Kyle on the Emergent Blog. He reminds us that 2005 was the year we lost Stanley Grenz as well... an important theologian and friend of Emergent.

Marko's reflections here...

God, reveal Yourself through this tragedy. Kyle leaves behind a wife and three young children. Hold them tight and bring them comfort and peace. We need You so badly, Father...

Last week I took a group to Seminars 4 Worship, a worship conference put on by Integrity in Danville. There were concerts by Lincoln Brewster, Ross Parsley and the Desperation Band, Don Moen and Tommy Walker. There were sessions led by Jack Hayford, Sally Morgenthaler and Pete Sanchez (writer of "I Exalt Thee"). I had a great time and was able to relax and enjoy myself. Luanne's mom was here to watch the kids, so Luanne came with me, and we even spent the night in Danville one night.

I guess the main thing I walked away with was a hunger... a deep desire to really experience God in worship. Hayford said that it's great to sing and praise God. It's great to hear from the Word of God... but what would it be like to be discipled by Jesus Himself? If He is truly among us through His Holy Spirit, then why not? What would that look and feel like? I want to know... Do we actually come to worship as a body expecting to meet with God? Yesterday in church we sang "Meet with Me" by Ten Shekel Shirt... "I'm here to meet with You. Come and meet with me." Are we really coming to meet with God? I want to know what that's like.

Desperation Band, Lincoln Brewster and Tommy Walker were all amazing. I am a big fan of Jared Anderson and Glenn Packiam from Desperation. Jared wrote two songs that we love at Sunday At 6: "Amazed" and "Treasure."

I'm in love. I just got the new 60GB Video iPod. I've already filled it with, let's see...6,619 songs and a video too... Pixar's "For the Birds." And here's the sweet thing: I only had to pay $100 or so for it. I got a 20GB iPod last Christmas from Luanne, and I loved it, but I filled it up pretty quickly... About a month ago, it broke. My computer wouldn't recognize it any more, and I couldn't reformat it. So, luckily for us, Luanne had purchased the 2-year product replacement plan from Best Buy. So all I had to do was send it in and I got a voucher for the original purchase price in the mail. Then I took my voucher for $300 in and bought a lot more than I could have a year ago! Moral of the story: Buy the service plan.

Here's a fun iPod exercise... I'll list the first 10 songs that come up on shuffle and comment on each one...

01: Viola by Girlyman (from "Remember Who I Am") - Girlyman is a neo-folk trio. I saw them open for the Indigo Girls in July. Sweet harmonies and interesting arrangements. Maybe a cross between Alison Krauss and Richard Shindell, with a little Ani DiFranco thrown in for good measure. They are very diverse in ethnicity and sexuality. I enjoyed them live, but their CDs are a little bland.

02: Hopeless, Etc. by Adam Again (from "Dig") - "Dig" is the best CD put out by this amazing band. I first heard them as a teenager in Indiana on a compilation tape, and I was mesmerized by Gene Eugene's voice and lyrics. They were among the community of underground Christian bands on the West Coast that included LSU, DAS, The Choir, Daniel Amos and The 77s. Although Gene died early and Adam again is no more, Riki Michele has continued to record, and I loved her "Surround Me" record. Hopeless, Etc. has a ridiculously long note held out by Gene that always blows me away. It must have been studio trickery.

03: Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) by Kate Bush (from "Hounds of Love") - I always think of Kate Bush as a spacy, witchy banshee... but she's a brilliant banshee too. This song is so driving, percolating on a bed of 80s synthesizers. Her layered, wailing vocals just sell it. I have no idea what it's about, but I can sing along with every word. "C'mon, baby... C'mon, c'mon darling, let's exchange the experience!"

04: Freedom by Wham! (from "Make It Big") - What can I say? I'm a sucker for George Michael's voice and the big, cheesy 80s Wham! sound.

05: 33 RPM Soul by Michelle Shocked (from "Arkansas Traveler") - I discovered Michelle Shocked in high school as my musical horizons were being broadened to include blues and folk. "Arkansas Traveler" was my first Michele Shocked tape, and although "Come a Long Way" has always been my favorite song from that album, this is a close second. It featured Pops Staples, and it flat-out grooves. I recently found out that she deliberately hid vulgar words in other more innocent words... So, basically, this song turns out to be an exercise in vulgarity. But a VERY clever one. I won't give any examples here.

06: Be My Joy by Maria McKee (from "High Dive") - Maria McKee is another banshee, but kind of an earthy one. I love her stuff, because she emotes like none other. This is kind of a desperate, co-dependent love song. She is losing her mind on this song. She is begging some guy to love her and to be her joy. She croaks out at one point "You made me so happy, Baby. Have I told you that?" And she sounds miserable. It's brilliant. It's even better on her "Live in Hamburg" CD.

07: Cracking by Suzanne Vega (from "Suzanne Vega") - Suzanne Vega is one of my favorite poets. It's funny. Her voice is not special. It's rather plain and boring, but something about it works with her words and music. This is a strange song, opening her very first recording, all the way back in 1985, before "Luka" had ever hit the airwaves. It's plaintive and meandering. About a woman walking on the sidewalks, thinking about life and losing sense of place and direction. The vocals are clipped, spoken... "It's a one... time... thing. It just... happens... a lot. Walk with me... and we will see what we have got. Aaaaahhhhh...."

08: Sevens by 77s (from "ep") - One of the finest songs my buddy (I love saying that) Mike Roe has ever recorded with the 77s. It's from their tiny little "ep," produced in 1999. I'm not sure what it's all about, but I'm pretty sure it's about love gone sour, and it features a gorgeous, soaring vocal by Mike. It's in some crazy meter... 5/8 or something. I should be able to figure it out, but I'm tired.

09: Not an Addict by K's Choice (from "Lilith Fair, Volume 3") - Great song. I don't know much about K's Choice, except they're from Europe somewhere and Sarah Bettens has a great voice. This song is powerful because it is all about denial... "I'm not an addict... Maybe that's a lie." I love the way it opens... just a cappella "a-ah, a-ah, a-ah, a-ah..." and then a bass line, establishing the groove... Very nice. Sarah Bettens sounds a little like a tougher Emily Saliers.

10: If I Could by Seal (from "Seal 1994") - The smoothest of the smooth, Seal, has Joni Mitchell join him for this one. (It was a reciprocal agreement, apparently, because Seal appeared on Joni's "Turbulent Indigo" album around the same time to even greater effect.) This is totally MOR, but I love it. I'm kind of a sap for these kinds of songs, and their voices together are really nice.

That was fun...

I leave tomorrow for Pismo Beach with my friend Tony. I'm going to a retreat for Covenant pastors with Robert K. Johnston and Catherine M. Barsotti. They are married film critics/theologians/authors. We are going to watch movies together and discuss their spiritual implications. I can't wait. Pismo is supposed to be spectacular. Too bad Luannie won't be with me.

I'm digging www.myspace.com these days... Finding a bunch of old friends and students. Come check out my page at www.myspace.com/mattnightingale and add me as a friend!