RockOm

By Trevor Harden, Trevor@RockOm.net

Since forming in 1985 as a band of middle school students, the rock quartet known as Live has grown to become one of the most popular and enduring alternative rock acts of the past two decades. They gained massive mainstream success with their sophomore breakthrough album Throwing Copper in 1994 and have since gone on to sell more than 20 million CDs worldwide.

Live frontman Eddie Kowalczyk is currently on an acoustic tour called Open Wings, Broken Strings with Leigh Nash of Sixpence None The Richer and Art Alexakis of Everclear. He is also working on a rocking new solo album to be released in spring of 2010 (details and mailing list at eddieklive.com).

Eddie sat down with RockOm's Trevor Harden to discuss his spiritual journey, rediscovering the Bible, the power of performing acoustically and more...

Trevor: Since Live's first album, Mental Jewelry, you've always allowed depth and spiritual truth into your lyrics. That album came out when you guys were very young so was there a catalyst that started you down that spiritual path? Can you speak about where that longing for something deeper came from?

Ed: Sure. I was baptized and confirmed Roman Catholic but never really got into it much beyond the routine of occasional church going and the formalities of the religion, never really digging that deeply into it as a child. Then as a teenager, I had a natural tendency to dig a little deeper than what was handed to me as a kid, in terms of spirituality and religion. When I was about 16 or 17 in high school I noticed that I was really interested in meditation and seeking Truth and a deeper meaning to my existence. I ended up wandering into a metaphysical bookstore that was near where I lived one day and saw a book by J. Krishnamurti called You Are the World; I bought it on a whim. It ended up being a book about questioning conditioning. He put everything into question in terms of what we accept as true or real and why we do so. It was maybe the first time I did that - to look at the ideas and beliefs I held about God and Truth and ask myself if they were accurate and what I was getting from it.

So that started my questioning which then led into years of meditating and reading. I've always been an avid reader of scripture and philosophy and never went to college so that was kind of my education. In the mid-1990's I met Ken Wilber and became really good friends with him and read his book called A Brief History of Everything which was a major watershed opening of my mind. Then about four or five years ago I did something called the Big Mind project with a man named Genpo Roche, a Zen master who developed a piercing kind of Zen questioning process. Since then I've come full circle by re-investigating the Bible from a metaphysical point of view - reinterpreting scripture in a way that relates to consciousness. That has been the main focus of my life for the last four years. It's definitely not a type of Christianity that people would recognize as typical or dogmatic; it's about the furthest you could be from fundamentalism but nonetheless Christian in nature. I'm really discovering the Bible for the first time in terms of unlocking its potential to teach us about reality.

Alongside all of that, it's music all the time. Music and songwriting is an extension of that search and has given me a lot to think about. It's been a fount of inspiration for me throughout the years and people seem to dig it.

Trevor: What are you finding in the life and teachings of Jesus that you weren't finding elsewhere or that you're finding unique?

Ed: It's unique in it's power, unique in it's breadth of influence. But you have to get away from looking at it as just a moral code and dig deeper into the language of the Bible and I'm interpreting it as it relates to consciousness itself or being itself. One of the simple ways that I see the power in it is every time the Bible says God or Lord or Christ is to relate that directly to consciousness itself, which is ever present and intermingling with your own being at a very deep level. So that unlocks an interest in prayer and meditation that was there but is now even more driven to a deeper place, understanding that as we touch that deep level that our life becomes the fruitage of that. We're happier, our relationships become more harmonious... "you shall know them by their fruits" stuff starts to happen. There's an extra sparkle in my eye and a smile that wasn't there for a while by ucovering that because of the depth of this prayer and practicing going to that place where we all become one. There's a very powerful silence there and it really reveals a lot.

As a musician and artist, you can't really ask for more than that. I come out of these periods with incredible inspiration and want to sing about it. Being able to go full circle and pick up the Bible again has been very powerful for me because it was a book that I really just didn't understand in a way that meant much to me for years. It's a sort of a coming home, but in my own way. It has been really, really exciting and powerful.

Trevor: You're currently offering the free download of your song "Forever" on eddieklive.com. It's a beautiful acoustic version of the song with the great line, "The darker the night, the brighter the dawn." Can you tell us a little about your inspiration for this song?

Ed: Again, coming from rediscovering the Bible and words like faith, that particular lyric is trying to express that when we see our ideal - the best case scenario, the most loving scenario, the fullest life, God or Truth - to keep our attention there in spite of what is appearing as an obstacle or limitation. As you keep the faith and keep your attention on that ideal and get more and more stronger doing that you find that the negativity leaves. You discover you've moved past the limitations and closer to the ideal in ways that are beyond imagination. Everyone has experienced that but this was just putting it into a context that is hopefully inspirational to people. It's something that has had an incredible impact on my life.

Trevor: All musicians talk about that mystical thing that happens in a live setting where there's a unity and connection you have with the audience. I'm sure it happens at both the loud rock concerts with the band as well as in the quiet, acoustic solo performances that you're currently doing. Can you talk about how the texture of that is different in both of those settings?

Ed: It's really different. Look, I love to rock. I've been in a great band for years and love to turn up the amps and have all the lights going and the big PA. But there's a part of you that sits by yourself in a room and writes a song that doesn't get to be on stage then. He has to recoil back into a little place of being there, but not really. Stripping it down and making it an acoustic, intimate setting really allows that guy to come forward. I had really kind of missed him. You obviously have that when you start out, when the crowds are smaller, but as the band gets bigger and your art succeeds, it becomes a persona that is designed to fill these big spaces. With this "Open Wings, Broken Strings" tour, the idea was to strip that down and put artists on the bill that were also ready for those types of things in their music. There's a fullness about the show that everyone is sharing in and the crowds are just loving it. A lot of them have said to me, "I never knew it could rock that much or be that compelling." That trips me out because that's where the music comes from, but I guess yeah, if you've never seen me acoustic you wouldn't know. This is just another view and it's really neat.

Trevor: In that setting you can talk about the meaning behind the songs and share the background a little bit. Are there any of your songs that you're particularly enjoying "clearing the air" about? Is there any song that you really enjoy telling the real story and meaning behind because it has maybe been misunderstood in the past or is perhaps a bit cryptic?

Ed: You know, I keep them that way a lot. I actually just did an introduction to "Lightening Crashes" the other night and said if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me what this song meant, I'd have a lot more dollars. I basically stepped off it again by saying that I have a feeling about what it means but people have received such different impressions about that song in lots of good ways that I don't want to influence that. I've said it's about reincarnation for me at periods of time in my life but I still tend to back away from that because there's something about the openness of it - letting it be interpreted in the way people receive it - that is really powerful.

www.eddieklive.com

Most every Westerner has some relationship with the Christian church. He/She is usually either a part of it or alternately has some sort of aversion to it. We all understand that Christianity - maybe even moreso than other faith practices - carries with it a lot of cultural baggage here in the States. For this reason as well as personal reasons, many otherwise "spiritually open" people (the types of which might frequent this site) may tend to dismiss anything that has a Christian label on it. There is the possibility, however, that one is throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.

Take this week's two main offerings from RockOm, for instance. Top-selling musician Derek Webb [pictured] (who has seen career sales approaching one million records) has a controversial new album that lays out an alternate and more honest perspective in the Christian conversation. He shares with RockOm about this album, his role as an artist and where he believes the music industry is headed. Another follower of Jesus, singer-songwriter Josh Garrels shares our Featured Track of the Week. His song "All Creatures" (which can be streamed in the right column of the homepage all week) speaks to "a deep connection with nature in relation to God."

Give these two guys a shot. You just may be surprised what you'll glean. You may even be blessed in the process.

Trevor, President of RockOm.net

By Trevor Harden, trevor@RockOm.net

"For we are gathered here to celebrate and explore the music of Winter,
the season of frosts and long dark nights."

So writes Sting in the liner notes to his latest recording, If on a Winter's Night..., a concept album centered on the darkest and most contemplative of the four seasons. What began as a suggestion to create a Christmas album has evolved into a collection of pensive songs - both original and borrowed - that survey that most spiritually reflective time of year.

Sting continues,

"Like all early creatures we seem pre-wired to recognize and respond to the polar archetypes of light and dark, of heat and cold as they are encoded in the rhythm of the days and nights and the perpetual cycle of the seasons."

And while most of Sting's popular work - if not lyrically, at least in tone - has rested more in the realm of light, If on a Winter's Night... plunges into the darkness and stays there for 50 frigid minutes, never budging from its stoic, frosty soundscape.

To get a sense of this album, one has only to look at the cover art: Sting walks alone in a snowy woods, accompanied only by his icy-whiskered companion named Compass. There is a silence that whispers from within the photo, only presumably broken by the sound of crunching snow collapsing beneath rubber soles. And this picture, in its simplicity, sums up the album perfectly, as if the audio from these 15 tracks had coalesced into a single image.  Both Sting and his marketing team have done a fantastic job "setting the stage" for this album, carrying out the concept and vision to its fullest potential: Pictures in the album's liner book include a heavily bearded and deep-eyed Sting, blustery landscapes, sweaters and coats, candle-lit living rooms and musicians in wistful meditation. Wintry words spill out from the pages of Sting's personal commentary such as mentions of "hot mugs of tea," scarves, ghosts and coal fires... he's certainly attempting to paint a picture. And he has, quite successfully.

PARALLEL STORIES

You could go so far as to say that a Winter-themed album that ignores the reality of Christmas would be in error, as the two have become so intertwined in Western culture. As the large portion of Sting's borrowed material stems from British and Scottish sources, it's no surprise that the album begins with a song singing the praises of Mary, the mother of Jesus. In fact the story of the "God-child come to earth" makes repeat appearances on If on a Winter's Night..., appearing also in the recordings of the 15th century German carol "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming," the touching fable-song "Cherry Tree Carol," and beyond. Despite Sting's self-professed agnosticism, he shares that "the sacred symbolism of the church's art still exerts a powerful influence over [him]."

Don't for a minute believe this is a Christian-centric album, however. Alongside hymns singing the praises of "the root of Jesse" are hints of something more ancient, medieval, folksy, ritualistic, natural and even pagan. In his own words, Sting says that it was "important to draw parallels between the Christian story and the older traditions of the winter solstice."

Spiritually and metaphorically, Winter's Night draws you inward through sonic themes related to winter such as reflectiveness, introspection and stillness. In order to fully "get" this album and its overtly subtle tone, one almost needs to understand Sting's motivation:

"...there is something of the Winter that is primal, mysterious and utterly irreplaceable ... as if we somehow need the darkness of the winter months to replenish our inner spirits as much as we need the light, energy and warmth of summer."

He goes further, acknowledging that Resurrection and light are just around the bend as Winter soon makes way for Spring. In truth they are two sides of the same coin:

"We are reminded that there is light and life at the centre of the darkness that is Winter - or conversely that, no matter how comfortable we feel in the cradle, there is darkness and danger all around us."

THE SONGS

Those longing to hear a new offering supported by Sting's Fender P-bass, electric guitars, synthesizers and a trap set need look elsewhere for herein we experience the folk-inspired sounds of harp, classical guitar, Melodeon, cello, Northumbrian Pipes, and fiddle. Fans of the Sting who penned Brand New Day, Mercury Falling, Ten Summoner's Tales and the majority of the Police's material will have to be remarkably open to other styles of music in order to include this alongside their favorite of his albums. This is not because this latest release is less than his previous offerings, not at all, but rather that it is so extraordinarily different from them. If On a Winter's Night... was released on the Deutsche Grammophon label which is both appropriate and telling, for this collection of songs belongs more suitably alongside your classical CDs (or even his own 2006 album Songs from the Labyrinth) than it does next to your Peter Gabriel or Paul Simon discs.

Sting begins with "Gabriel's Message," singing "Most highly favored lady, Gloria!" over the gentle instrumentation of a nylon-stringed guitar, muted horns and tight vocal harmonies.  From there the album slowly and intentionally bubbles forward like a frozen-over brook, presenting classical and folk pieces including a Celtic begging song, a folk tune from Sting's home of Newcastle, a number from Henry Purcell's King Arthur, a reference to Schubert's Winterreise and more; as well as two original pieces, the beautiful "Lullaby for an Anxious Child" and a new arrangement of the previously recorded "Hounds of Winter."

CONCLUSION

If on a Winter's Night... is almost "application music," or music for the purpose of introspection, mood setting, or direct listening. It most likely shouldn't be considered for enlivening your holiday party with yuletide cheer and may not even be - if I may be so bold - for entertainment. Like most music with depth, it requires a certain conscious presence to fully appreciate and experience, coming to grips with it over time like slowly warming beneath a freshly applied sweater.

There's a mystery in the dark of winter that is both unsettling and strangely comforting, as if everything remains unanswered and yet is perfect as it is; If on a Winter's Night... resides in that mystery. It isn't music for everyone, nor will there be any signature Sting hit singles emerging from it, and yet for those brave enough to look within and meditate on what lies in the heart of darkness, it is a welcome companion to the bleak seasons, both in nature and in the soul.

"If I have a spirituality at all, it's about music. I play and I listen to music as if it really matters to my soul, to my eternal being." [Sting]

An interview with Country Music's Collin Raye
By Tom Crenshaw, Tom@RockOm.net

Collin Raye grew up surrounded by powerful songs of conviction and in the shadows of legendary rock 'n' rollers and country artists. His mother was a musician in the 1950s and opened up on many occasion for the likes of Sun Records recording artists Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. Later on in his mother's career Collin and his brother would become part of her act learning the ropes of the entertainment business at an early age.

Jump now to 2009. Collin Raye is a legend in Country music having garnered five Platinum albums, 25 Top Ten hits, and 15 No. 1 chart-toppers. Five times nominated as country music's Male Vocalist of the Year, Collin Raye has consistently used his stardom to advance social causes. Among the organizations he has supported are Boys Town, First Steps, Al-Anon, Special Olympics, Country Cares About AIDS, Catholic Relief Services, Parade of Pennies, Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, The Emily Harrison Foundation, Childhelp USA, Silent Witness National Initiative, Easter Seals and Make a Difference Day. At the 2001 Country Radio Seminar, Clint Black presented Collin Raye with the organization's Humanitarian of the Year award in recognition of his issue-oriented music and his tireless charity work.

Collin's latest release, titled Never Going Back [Time Life Records], is a mix of secular and spiritual songs that he himself is extremely proud of. Included on the album are the highlights "Mid-life Chrysler", "Without You" (a duet with Susan Ashton), "The Cross", "Only Jesus" and "She's With Me", a song Collin wrote for his granddaughter Haley who suffers from a rare and crippling neurological condition.

In this interview Collin talks about his early years in the honky-tonks, his newest songs centered on his faith and spirituality, staying positive through family struggles, and why he never tires of lending support to charitable causes.

Tom: Do you ever miss the honky-tonks?

Collin: Oh, no, no, no. Never. I've never looked back. I look at those like a sentence; I did my time and I earned my stripes. It was a good place to cut your teeth and learn how to perform, because in those kinds of places in those days especially you weren't put on a pedestal for being in a band. If anything, you were looked down upon. You really had to learn to be thick-skinned and be able to play with enthusiasm even when no one applauded or paid attention. If they did pay attention at all it was to complain that you were too loud or not loud enough or not playing enough dance music or that kind of thing. It was very tough and I was a young man; I could never do that again today. I wouldn't have the patience for it, nor the desire.

But between that and the casinos that I did later on in Nevada, I learned how to do this for a living. So by the time I got a record deal I knew how to put on a show and perform for people. All I needed was my own music and so once I got that I was in business.

Tom: Bands coming up today don't necessarily need to do what had to be done in the past such as play in the honky-tonks. But at the same time they don't get the experience of being in front of brutally honest audiences and paying their dues. There's a benefit and a drawback there.

Collin: It's a double-edged sword because if - let's say my daughter or my son was following in my footsteps - I would not want them to do what I had to do. I'd want them to be able to win a talent show, get a couple of breaks, and 'boom' get a record deal. As someone who's done that, at the same time you feel cheated in a way. [These artists] will still talk about paying their dues and playing in one club for a year before getting a record deal. And you find out what club it is and it turns out to be one that we'd have cut off our pinkie to play in, with big sound and lights. They don't have to do what we did and it shows; you see them live and see their inexperience. But we live in a time that worships youth. Our society seems to adore anyone who does anything if they're cute and they're young, whether they really have anything to offer or whether they have one trick to offer.

For instance in the mainstream, music has become such a product. And I know technically it's always been a product but it's now looking like something you just buy off the shelves. I just wonder sometimes what rock and roll, country and mainstream pop music would have been like had it always been that way. The answer is it'd be pretty pathetic. In other words, those people who did all those creative things in the 50s, 60s and 70s would have never gotten the opportunity to do those things, set the standards so high and give us all that music we love today had record labels kept them in a choke-hold like they do now or not signed people because they're not cute or young enough.

Tom: Let me ask you about your latest album, Never Going Back which was released on your own label...

Collin: Actually, I have done some records on my own label but this one is released on Time Life. I'm really enjoying that relationship because they are not a country music label or a rock label or an anything label; they just put out music. They told me to make the album I wanted to make and they'd sell it with no interference. I had never gotten an offer like that before. And so I had no one looking over my shoulder and I made a record that is very eclectic and very much 'me.' I feel like it's more of a Christian album more than anything else. I didn't mean for that to happen but that's just where my heart is and the kind of the songs I write. To be honest with you, I feel like I've been making records like that for a long time but was always stereotyped as a country music singer no matter what I sang. For the longest time we were very blessed and lucky to be able to put out songs that carried a heavy message and make them country music hits - from "Little Rock" to "Love Me" to "In This Life" - I feel like they are spiritual songs. We treated them that way and performed them that way. But it just so happens at that time the country music audience was wide and varied enough that there was a place for those kinds of songs.

For instance, we talk about domestic violence amongst women and we look at that through the eyes of a father and how sometimes when we don't mean to be doing it in a harmful way, we degrade a woman like she's a piece of meat or something to look at. Well that's somebody's little girl, now. There were songs like that which were Top 5 Country records and I couldn't believe we got away with that. Eventually the powers-that-be decided around the turn of the millennium to get back to the good 'ol party tunes that sell beer and make Budweiser happy. That's kind of where the male artists are right now; you're either doing that or you're not doing anything. The girls, like Carrie Underwood, can get away with some cool songs sometimes but rarely do you hear a song from a male artist today on the radio that's not about pick-ups and drinking beer from a mason jar. That's not my cup of tea and never was.

So to make this long answer even longer I think what I enjoy the most is that the label doesn't consider me a country singer; they consider me a singer. My fans either don't listen to radio or listen to different types of radio such as Christian radio or AC [Adult Contemporary] radio. They feel like I'm a different type of breed and for the first time I've got a label who understands that and promotes me as such.

Tom: It seems the labels have been changing their minds regarding spiritual music. Do you think it's purely profit driven or do you feel like there's a change happening in some of the bigger labels?

Collin: I would love to believe it's a change in attitude but I've been in this business for so long and known people who run labels. When MercyMe's album and song "I Can Only Imagine" crossed over - which is a Praise and Worship album straight out of Sunday Worship - and became a #1 AC song, I think God very much blessed that effort. It was an anointed thing. It was very unique and isn't going to happen over and over. But at the same time I think record labels look at that and go, "Hey, there's people who will actually buy this Jesus Music." There could be an exception in there who are maybe trying to do something positive with their roster, but for the most part they probably see it as a chance to cash in. That's just what record labels do. They've been doing it since someone came up with the concept in the first place. And they'll continue to do it except for the labels that are specifically organized to release spiritual music.

Tom: In 2001 the Country Radio Broadcasters gave you their Artists' Humanitarian Award and you were nominated for 2008's Academy of Country Music's Humanitarian Award. You've worked with just about every organization out there who seeks to help others. What can you share with someone who may be reading or hearing this that is going through hard times and trials and might be in a position where things seem hopeless?

Collin: I guess experience. And by that I mean that I'm no different than anyone who has gone through stuff. The struggles in my career I don't even consider as significant. The struggles that count are the ones in your family and that involve your kids. In my case I've had a few, not the least of which is one we're going through right now with my little granddaughter, Haley, who's extremely ill with a neurological disorder that is crippling and (they tell us) ultimately fatal. There's helplessness that comes with that. So what I say comes straight from the horses mouth [when I work with these causes]. For years I used to support charities and children's charities, but my kids were fine. I've always had a compassionate heart and heavy conscience. But now through the course of the past few years when I offer my help or try to draw light to a certain cause or charity, people can look back and say that the Spirit's got to be with me to a certain degree, otherwise I would just sit in the corner and feel sorry for myself. I could say that we have our own problems and I'm not going to worry about people overseas or hungry and sick kids in our own country, because we have our own baby to worry about. But I can't do that.

I feel like God wants me to continue more so than ever to reach out and say, "This is what we're going through and though it's a different situation than what you're going through, we have very similar pains and feelings that we deal with day after day." We have to stick together and go shoulder-to-shoulder with other people who are suffering. And not just reach down like we did in the 80's with "We Are the World," which was a huge, wonderful project. But it was the elite in the music business who were reaching down to help the people of Africa, which is nice and raised a lot of money, but I think the Lord wants us to not reach down. He wants us to reach up or reach across and wrap our arms around each other and understand that we're all in this together.

The Lord never promised us an easy time and if we were supposed to have the ability to cruise through this life without suffering then he could have paid the price for us by dying, but not necessarily dying the way he did. He could've lived a very affluent and comfortable life up until his death. But, no. He was born in a barn and I'm sure that for a large part of his life he was a nomad and homeless. He didn't have anything of this earth. The Bible only tells us so much about his early years but you have to imagine. After all, they were very, very poor and people of the land. To live the way he did and die the way he did, there has to be a lesson in that. In other words, if life could be wonderful and perfect, there would be no need for heaven.

I feel like I have learned to embrace that more and more as time has gone by, not just because of the amount of years I've lived but because of the dire circumstances that seem to continue to grow as I get older. I'm 49 years old now and I thought by this time I'd be a fat cat, kicking back and not worrying about anything. Nothing could be further than the truth. We have more struggle, pain and fear in our lives today than I've ever had in my entire life. But here I am, I keep on smiling and I'm still positive. I still love people and love to work. I still love when people want to share their stories with me. I'm the same guy. That I credit totally to the Lord. When you have a lot of success early on, even though I was worldly appreciative of the fact that I was getting to live my dream, at the same time you start to wonder why it is I get to do this and make good money? And why is it when I go to work people stand up and applaud and other people have to bust road without any recognition whatsoever for very little money? I always hated doing autograph lines, not because I didn't want to meet the people, but because I didn't like the idea of sitting there behind a table and seeing a line an eighth of a mile long waiting to meet me like I'm the president or the pope. I'm nothing special; I'm just a musician and singer. I always felt like Santa Claus in Macy's in Miracle on 34th Street. It just didn't make any sense to me.

Now that I've gotten older and had these other experience, now I think, "Ah, God was just training me." In other words what I am doing now, he was just training me back then like I was in boot camp. People are drawn to me now for another reason. I believe they're drawn to me because of Him and they sense something in me that's of Him whether they know it or not. That's why celebrities can get so messed up and get into strange, weird behavior or drugs is because if you don't see Him and the Holy Spirit in it then you're going to start believing that it's 'you.' You start believing it's all about you and you're so great. It's been not only a saving grace for me to keep my feet on the ground but it's given me my purpose.

LINKS:

www.collinraye.com

www.operationkids.org

by Tom Crenshaw, tom@rockom.net

He reeks. His clothes are filthy and worn, his teeth are rotten, the sounds coming out of his guitar are unfamiliar, and he’s asking everyone who passes by for money so he can do "who knows what" with.  Just around the corner is a woman who could be his twin sister. The two look and smell the same except she makes “things” out of reed grass... flowers I guess you would call them. She sometimes sings except she appears so blitzed that she’s not making or singing anything right now, just laughing on and on at nothing and no one. And right up the way is an old black man sitting in a wheelchair and beating on two small "drums" made out coffee cans and spouting gibberish. Everyone steers clear of these three individuals. Almost anyone would desire to steer clear of derelicts like these and most all of us do.

Why do we avoid those who make us uncomfortable in their obvious distress? Those who unnerve us with their dirty, smelly, uncouth, and "obnoxious" behavior? It seems to run counter to everything we were taught in church, synagogue, mosque, and temple about how to treat those less fortunate than ourselves, yet most all of us go out of our way to avoid meeting the eyes of the poor, the sick, and the hungry much less offer any assistance.

I think our avoidance is because we don't know what to do when we're in the presence of someone or something that makes us so completely uncomfortable. We're so caught up in our own little worlds where "normal" is the rule and anything that disrupts our idea of what's normal really send us for a loop. What if instead we remembered the words and teachings of scripture which say "whatever we do unto the least, we do unto the divine Father-Mother?" I would even go so far to say whatever we do unto those who typically trip our "normal switch" from on to off, we do unto ourselves.

We're not called to save the world, but all of us are called to treat others in the same manner we desire to be treated. If we would simply practice this thought and act on it there would be no need to save the world because there would be nothing from which the world would need saving.

I don’t know what it was about today that made me stop and listen to the guitar player performing on a park bench in the city square. I had passed by him many times before without pausing but for some reason I stopped today and listened to him play and sing. There was something particular about today - a feeling that welled up inside compelling me to pause and hear his song. Perhaps today I heard his music for the very first time. And then I did the unthinkable, I spoke to him and he spoke back revealing himself to be a normal human being trying to make his way in this world. When we were finished with our few words I thanked him, dropped a couple of dollars in his opened guitar case and went on my way. He thanked me back.

In the long run a couple of dollars isn’t going to make much of a difference. But it's not about the money; it's much more than that. It's about why we stop and speak or offer assistance to those in need. It's about who we come to recognize behind those eyes staring back at us that we think are so very different from our own. There are indeed angels among us. God herself is living on the street, singing her lonely song and it's time we started giving a damn.

"Today our poor of the world are looking up at you. Do you look back at them with compassion? Do you have compassion for the people who are hungry? They are hungry not only for bread and rice; they are hungry to be recognized as human beings. They are hungry for you to know that they have their dignity that they want to be treated as you are treated. They are hungry for love… every day I see Jesus Christ in all his distressing disguises.” Mother Teresa

A RockOm Interview with Rev. Justin Epstein

Justin Epstein is a dynamic inspirational speaker who has given over one hundred and thirty presentations to thousands of people in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall.  He has shared the stage with such notables as Dr. Maya Angelou, Les Brown, Iyanla Vanzant and Marianne Williamson.

Justin Epstein graduated Magna Cum Laude from James Madison University, where he received a BS degree and double-majored in Communications and Religion/Philosophy.  He is a graduate of Unity School for Religious Studies Ministerial Program in Missouri and was ordained a Unity Minister in 1993.  He also resided at Ananda Village for three and a half years, a prolific school of Eastern thought.

He has produced and hosted the cable television series "Practical Spirituality" that aired in New York City. Justin served as the associate to prolific author and speaker Eric Butterworth, whose book Discover the Power within You was listed in Oprah's first edition of O Magazine as the book that changed her perspective on God and started her on her spiritual journey.

Justin is a student of the best-selling authors Dr. Wayne Dyer, Eckhart Tolle and the personal development gurus Anthony Robbins and Brian Tracy. He is also a graduate of the American Comedy Institute and has performed stand up comedy in clubs throughout New York City including Caroline's on Broadway.  Justin is the president/CEO of Justin Epstein International, presenting seminars on Enlightened Golf: Merging Mind, Body and Spirit through the Game and also speaks to salespeople.  He is the senior minister of the Unity Church of Hilton Head Island, SC.

RockOm: How was music emphasized during your stint at Ananda Village?

Justin Epstein: After I was ordained from Unity I decided to go out to Ananda Village in Northern California and learn more about the understanding of the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, which was a wonderful balance of the teaching of yoga, based on The Bhagavad Gita. It's the science of realizing God and experiencing God, here and now. Yogananda talked about Jesus and quoted the Bible and that really appealed to me.

Part of the teaching at Ananda Village is chanting. Yogananda said that chanting is half the battle, because in chanting you're repeating positive, spiritual words over and over and that's focusing your thoughts and your heart's feelings. The whole point is to take all those feelings in the heart and channel them towards God. Ultimately, it goes beyond feeling uplifted and arousing emotion and sentiment - it helps you to get quiet and to meditate. You take the energy you're bringing inside [from the music or chanting] and you channel it from the heart to the point between the eyebrows - the spiritual eye - which helps you experience not only the subconscious feeling, but the super-conscious level of mind, that level of creativity where we experience that presence of God.

We're talking about music here today and Jesus said that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Every word that you speak has an impact in your life. When we sing, we're taking thoughts and we're crystallizing them into words, singing those words and they impact our heart and change our physiology. They can change our behavior and uplift us. If the words are negative then they can bring us down.

RO: What is it about music that connects us with God?

JE: Music helps to get your feelings and thoughts all channeled towards one focus, to have all your energy moving in the direction of super-consciousness or God. That’s the main thing it does for me. When we’re happy we use words like "up", "uplifted", and "on top of the world."  I believe when we're happy, our energy and focus flow upward. Music can help to take your energy, focus it and move it in an upward direction. You can use that energy to experience a deeper communion.

RO: What is your insights on the spiritual sounds "Om/Aum", "Amen", and "The Word"?

JE: In the teachings of Yogananda there's the transcendent presence of God who is beyond all form. That presence begins to vibrate itself as sound, as energy. It creates this word and creates you and me. It is the consciousness of God vibrating itself. The Om is that movement of sound energy and vibration that creates everything. It is the Amen in Judaism and Christianity, the Ameen of the Muslims, and the Omkar for the Zoroastrians. I believe The Word (from the Bible's Gospel of John) was the presence and activity that vibrates itself. That's the creative Word. It's creating everything. "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God."  You might call it the Holy Ghost or the Comforter. In chanting, ultimately, we want to be able to listen to the Om sound, to open up to that presence and that sound that is within us and to let it vibrate throughout our whole being.

RO: Or resonate with the larger Om.

JE: Exactly, listening to that vibration of Om brings us back into union with that one, transcendent presence. We're in tune with the music of the spheres.

RO: Are there other sacred texts or scriptures that have meant something to you as far as music is concerned?

JE: The Bible verse, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord", certainly comes to mind. I don't believe the Lord needs our joyful noise, but I think we need it!

Be sure to catch the entire audio portion of our interview with Reverend Justin on Thursday's RockOm.net Podcast.

By Trevor Harden, trevor@RockOm.net

Zu: When shown as zu2 or zu3, etc., it is a directive [on sheet music] to indicate the number of musicians to perform the indicated passage of music. The musicians would perform the indicated passage in unison with two (2), three (3), or the number of musicians indicated. This is most often used with stringed instruments (i.e. violins, violas, cellos, basses), but can be used for any instrument in the ensemble where there are multiple musicians performing one part. [Source: Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary]

Do you try to go it alone? Do you find peace in solitude and figuring things out by yourself? Does your strength come from retreating as opposed to being amongst people? All of this is fine and good. I fancy myself an introvert and certainly need my alone time.

And yet, sometimes life's score calls for zu2 or zu3 - or in other words, more than one "player" is required. Is there a situation in your life where you're up against a wall... something you're having trouble or difficulty with? Perhaps the answer lies in teaming up with others in finding solutions "in unison." Whether it be in problem solving, prayer, or other "group mind" activities, there is often strength and influence in numbers. We loners don't like to hear that, but it may take overcoming our fears or need to control in order to make real progress or break through a wall. Is something in your life calling for a zu2?

"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (Jesus)

• A Muslim music video, country-western style - "In December 2007, over 2,000 American Muslims were asked what they wished they could say to the world...." [RockOm note: Check this out - it's great!]
• 'He would have considered a Beatles reunion... he had great love for them' - In promotion of a new George Harrison tribute collection, wife Oliva shares about George's life and spirituality.
• Jazz Musician Daniel Zamir's Journey Back to Judaism - Jazz saxophonist Daniel Zamir has released a new CD with a tribute to kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit and a staggering 15-minute version of HaTikva.
• Jesus Rock - "Christian bands offer music of hope, and not just to believers."
• Of Gods and Music - A woman's interest in "Black Metal" leads her to investigate Norse mythology

Homeless Shelter Lets Singers Share Their Gifts and Gain Confidence to Confront Their Troubles
by Tom Weld, The California Chronicle

Earnest enthusiasm easily carries the voices across the span of empty pews that separate the visiting choir from those gathered for a sparsely attended Lenten service at Unity Lutheran Church.

Hush, hush, somebody's calling my name... Hush, hush, somebody's calling my name... Hush, hush, somebody's calling my name... Oh my Lord, oh my Lord, what shall I do, what shall I do?

The song grabs hold of the worshippers, even those still settled in their coats, sitting near the back. It rises to the tall, arched rafters and expands toward the glowing stained-glass windows.

It carries with it the sincerity of a choir formed largely by the homeless and formerly homeless who find help through Repairers of the Breach, a daytime shelter in Milwaukee's central city.

Their words continue:

I'm so glad, troubles don't last always

I'm so glad, troubles don't last always

I'm so glad, troubles don't last always

Oh my Lord, oh my Lord, what shall I do, what shall I do?

The joyful release in traditional gospel songs compels the congregants to stand, to clap, to stomp their feet and sing out, to spark rare enthusiasm in a traditional Lutheran Lenten service.

The response leaves the singers beaming, filled with pride and accomplishment, far removed from the difficulties that brought them to this healing choir, formed on a cold day in the city's only daytime shelter for the homeless.

Their performance at the church on E. Oklahoma Ave. in Milwaukee is another step toward a collective recovery, from abusive relationships, addictions, illnesses and struggles that often put them on the streets or in shelters.

In many ways, the tracks of their lives match the scales they sing during weekly rehearsals, ascending and descending, ascending and descending.

The rehearsals, Saturday afternoons in the Repairers of the Breach shelter on W. Vliet St., afford the members an opportunity to find their voices, to move past the feelings that often cause them to silence themselves.

"I was ashamed at first to bring my voice out, but it's starting to come," said Vickie Parker, a 40-year-old mother of seven and one of the dozen or so regular choir singers. "Now I can sing without being embarrassed or afraid."

Parker first sought help at the Repairers of the Breach shelter in winter of 2007. At the time, the native of East St. Louis, Ill., was living in a shelter and had no money to buy Christmas presents for her children.

Since then, she has relied on the Repairers for mattresses, sheets, towels and other furnishings for the cramped flat she rents off W. Center St. She's relied on the choir to fill her spirit.

When little in her life seems within ready control, joining the other voices eases the depths of her depressions.

"I believe when we're all in that group, we support each other," she said. "We help each other through weakness."

Arlene Skwierawski partners with country music singer K.C. Williams to provide the musical direction for the singers who fill the choir's ranks, both during rehearsals and in the performances at area churches. Skwierawski, 71, taught music at North Division High School for 25 years and directed the All Saints Roman Catholic Church Choir for 15.

She traces the start of the Repairers Choir to an appearance by her church choir in the shelter on a cold night around Christmastime, roughly three years ago.

The shelter kept its doors open late that night to give the homeless respite from the cold, and many of them joined the All Saints Choir in song. MacCanon Brown, who runs Repairers of the Breach, suggested Skwierawski start a choir featuring those who visit the shelter.

Skwierawski was unable to say anything but yes to the people curled up in blankets on the floor.

She thought: "How can you say no when you're looking at people who are that down and are still willing to sing?"

The singers, bolstered by members of the Milwaukee Public Schools Alumni Choir, meet in a tightly packed practice room that doubles as a storage area for the daytime shelter. A stack of crutches leans in a corner, paint peels from the ceiling, a portable heater hums against the chill, and boxes of food surround the singers in their chairs.

Skwierawski leads them with an electric piano and a pounding enthusiasm for the rhythm of southern gospel music.

Helped by her former student, Williams, she impresses a level of musical discipline on the singers, arranging them into sopranos, altos, tenors and basses and directing them to sing their parts.

Some mouth the words quietly at first, hiding their voices from themselves and the others. Eventually, their eyes brighten and their voices gain strength, melding with the others.

"We found all kinds of marvelous singers," Skwierawski said.

Support and change

One of them is Odell White, a 58-year-old who traveled to Milwaukee from Louisiana in 2006, after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

White learned gospel music listening to his mother sing in the kitchen during his boyhood days. But he strayed from that music and that message for much of his adult life, time -- by his telling -- spent "rippin' and runnin', clownin' and drinkin'."

He continued with that wayward life in Milwaukee, and was living in and out of shelters when he followed directions to Repairers.

"My thinking ability, my mentality, my morals and everything seemed to go by the wayside," White said. "I knew one way, but that wasn't the right way."

White was overwhelmed by the support he received from his fellow strugglers at the shelter, and by the chance to sing.

During rehearsals, his feet are the first to stomp in time. He quickly stands, and taps into his background in gospel quartets to help direct others singers, encouraging them to give power to their voices and their feelings.

He turns his lean body to those singing near him, smiling and nodding in an angular rhythm.

"The choir is inspirational to me," White said. "It's positive. I'm doing it for a good reason, a good cause -- that's the Lord Jesus Christ."

'Make a little noise'

During rehearsals, the choir members nurture each other. During the performances, roughly one time per month, they drink in the positive response from worshippers whose lives are so far from their own.

Walking toward the exit, one of the Unity Church worshippers commented to a friend: "They woke up the congregation. We should do that more often. Make a little noise."

In the fellowship hall, Pastor Amy Becker smiled at the spark the choir brought to her church and its members.

"It was fun to see people engaged through music," Becker said. "There was definitely more movement than there usually is.

"Beyond the energy, it was experiencing how God works outside of our own system, our own lives."

Linda Orr, 52, sought help from the Repairers shelter when she became homeless, and joined the choir to be "uplifted" even when her life circumstances began to improve.

She relishes the quiet in the church settings, as the congregants take their seats, and the choir members wait before them, dressed in their best clothes. She watches for the "little old ladies" to begin clapping, to share the lift that she feels, the positiveness and hopefulness of the music and her voice.

It confirms her belief that "If you got nothing else, at least you can sing."

Is there truly such a thing as ‘Christian’ Music? Or is all music a gift, if it lifts the human soul?
By Deacon Keith Fournier, Catholic Online

I love music—always have and always will. At the age of five I fancied myself an Elvis impersonator—crooning the king’s music to anyone who would listen at Rocco’s Cafe in Dorchester, Massachusetts while my aunt laughed and danced. I even painted my little white bucks blue so that I could sing “Blue Suede Shoes” with authenticity.

I was a lead singer in a high school rock band having taught myself how to play the guitar at the age of thirteen. By fifteen I had written for, performed in and promoted bands. I knew the extraordinary capacity music had to bare the human soul. By the age of seventeen I had written my own music that I would later self record. I lived through my turbulent teenage years searching days from lyric to lyric with rock and contemporary music. To this day I still experience the emotional moods of seasons of my life every time I hear some of the old “counter culture” music of the late sixties and early seventies.

I love all kinds of music—from sultry women rhythm and blues singers—to jazz, contemporary, to the best of the Western tradition's classical treasury. Finally, although I am Boston bred, I have become a Virginian by choice and with it I have expanded my musical taste. My oldest daughter provided my entry into the world of country music. I have moved from hiding my country leanings to actually walking into a store and unapologetically purchasing the latest offerings without apology. However there is one kind of music I don’t like. I don’t like much of what is often called “Christian" music.

I know this will scandalize some who read these words. But at least hear me out. First, I am a Christian. My relationship with the Lord and my life as a part of His Catholic Church is the most important aspect of my identity, my family and my reason for living. I am also a member of the Catholic clergy and serve at the altar. I absolutely love good worship and liturgical music. My dislike for much of what is called “Christian" music is simple to understand, I question the term itself. I actually do not like the expression. It is sometimes a part of a kind of worldview that separates faith from real life. This kind of an approach sometimes seems to present music that does not have religious words attached as “secular.” Interestingly, an entire genre of such music has evolved. It use to be almost exclusively part of evangelical culture but now it is spreading into some contemporary Catholic circles.

All music is a gift from God if it edifies the human person. It is meant to be enjoyed as a part of the fabric of the human experience. Putting “God words” on a melody does not make it Christian. In fact, sometimes it has the opposite effect leading the listener to believe that Christianity is simply some kind of “holier than thou” club for those who live in a parallel universe—rather than a way for all men and women to reach their highest destiny. Through the Incarnation of the Son of God the entire human experience was transformed. Christians tend to forget the extraordinary depth of that ancient and fundamental truth of our faith.

Christianity is a relationship—with God through his Son in his Spirit—and through Him with one another as a part of His body. We literally live in the Church now—in Christ. In Him we are sent into this world to carry on His redemptive work. No inanimate object or creation of the human person is “Christian”. Only persons are capable of having a “relationship” with the Lord. Of course artistic creations such as music can be especially set aside for Him. Creation itself is in a relationship with the Creator. However, it is only human persons who freely embrace an intimate relationship with the Trinity, through Jesus Christ. That is the root meaning of “holy” in the original language—to be set aside for God.

That setting aside of music for Him is why liturgical music was so vitally important (and still should be) throughout the history of the Christian church. However, some of that Church has forgotten what liturgy is or has trivialized its uniqueness. I also find increasingly distasteful some of the “ditties” that have emerged in some of our worship and substitute themselves for the grandeur and majesty befitting solemn worship of the all Holy God. Are they truly fitting sacrifice to the God who made the universe in all of its glory?

The Biblical passages (Old and New Testament) pertaining to music spoke to temple worship or the early Christian liturgical assembly. Of course Christians sang (and yes danced—particularly at weddings like Cana in Galilee) outside of their common worship. Was that music “Christian”? The early Christian fathers had a concern about some of the music that the pagan cultures had adopted because they did not edify. However, the Christian contribution to music did not include only “God words” set to rhythms. Some of the greatest ... musical compositions throughout human history have come from Christians. Whether writing about love, or a sunset, the struggles of adolescence or the depth of suffering which is so much a part of the human experience, Christian persons have written wonderful music of every kind.

Christians do not lose their humanity. Therein we find the deeper concern I have regarding "Christian" music. In fact, to be a Christian is to be more fully human! I love the way the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council captured this truth in a powerful document on the role of the Church in the Modern world: “In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man fully becomes clear. For Adam, the first man, was a type of Him who was to come, Christ the lord, Christ the new Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the father and of His love, fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling.”

The problem with much of what calls itself "Christian" music these days is that it sometimes puts “God words” to poor music. Sometimes in so doing it misses the opportunity to truly move human hearts toward God’s Living Word, the One who truly understands the human experience and is capable of transforming it through His redemptive love. Additionally, it can misunderstand the fullness of the Christian mission. We are not called to build little cultural ghettos within which we escape the corruption and pain wrought by the effects of sin. Sometimes we develop such strange language and subcultures that real people, the kind who flocked to Jesus, find us at best unapproachable and at worst weird.

We are to manifest in very human and real ways the implications of that pre-eminent passage from the Sacred Scripture: “God so loved the world the world that He sent His Only Son (John 3:16)” He still does, and He sends his Son into that world through us. We are to be with the very people whom He came to save, heal and love! We need to sing, dance, weep and play with them. Not only do they need it, we do as well. I have had the privilege of spending time with some very holy people in my life—true saints. One thing I can say is they were intensely real, intensely human and approachable. I know that’s how Jesus was and how He should be experienced as people still touch the hem of His garment through us.

If we are going to be fruitful in our missionary mandate we would be better off seeking to incarnate God’s Word in our lives and live a truly renewed human existence in the midst of real men and women. There, fully rooted in a real world, we should sing, laugh, cry, suffer, dance and die as Jesus did. In so doing we should be great musicians, of every sort, and leave our comfortable little religious ghettos where we put “God words” on—all too often—poor music and feel that we have fulfilled our missionary mandate. Well there I said it. I told you it might be uncomfortable for some. I do not mean to offend.

Let me explain further. I do not dislike all "Christian" music. I understand that it often plays a vital evangelistic role. I just question an approach to Christianity that renders it a subculture and creates either an "oasis" or a "Masada" where Christians escape or from which they assault the world they were commissioned to help redeem. It not only is an ineffective missionary approach, it misunderstands some of the implications of the Incarnation. It also tends to make Christians forget their own humanity which is unfortunate, both for them and for others.

But now I will take a break and listen to some jazz. Now that’s really good music….