Purple Door 2009: Day Two

We started day two off by watching Farewell Flight perform, really good band, I picked up a couple of their albums. (I'll have links to all the band websites at the end of this post.) After that we watched Reilly perform again. They were really good. They didn't have their full band the night before and they just came out to do some praise and worship songs, but they did their own songs on Saturday.

(Farewell Flight)

(Reilly)

For lunch we left the grounds and sought after food elsewhere. We ended up at Neato Burrito.


Jesse enjoyed his burrito.



Natalie enjoyed her burrito.



April enjoyed her burrito.

I was defeated by my burrito in a bowl.



Anywho, we went back to Purple Door and decided to rest in the shade of a tree and try to take a little nap. That rest was interrupted by some really bad hip-hop, I won't mention who it was. So we went to the Gallery stage to see Deas Vail perform, followed by Seabird, and then Bradley Hathaway. All great performers, although I prefer Bradley's poetry over his music.

(Deas Vail)

(Deas Vail)


(Seabird)

(Seabird)

(Bradley Hathaway)

While we were at the Gallery Stage we signed the Purple Door. Here's April signing her name:

(She broke her ankle a week before Purple Door, but she was still able to go. She was such a trooper walking all over the place.)

(Can you find our names?)

We went back to the main stage where Renee Yohe, from To Write Love On Her Arms, was supposed to speak but she couldn't make it. Then Jamie Tworkowski, the founder of To Write Love On Her Arms was supposed to speak in her place, but he was not able to make it either. Instead, Stephen Christian from Anberlin came out to speak on their behalf. He had a lot of good things to say. I wish I could find a video on YouTube of his speech but I don't see any, sorry. But here's a picture:



Natalie and I went to the main stage merch section to look around. We spoke with the drummer of Farewell Flight. Natalie gave him Plural Form's business card and he said he would take a listen. We don't know if he ever did. We also spoke with the guy who plays trumpet for mewithoutYou. He's a new addition to the band.

We finished out the night by watching John Mark McMillan, Disciple, mewithoutYou, and Anberlin perform. Sorry, I don't have any pictures. Actually, I have some from when I went to Purple Door two years ago of mewithoutYou and Anberlin, so I'll use those. The pictures are kind of blurry, it was dark out.

(mewithoutYou)

(mewithoutYou)

(Anblurlin...I mean Anberlin)

(Anberlin)

Overall, it was a pretty good weekend. I hope to go again next year and the year after that and so on. Here's the list and links of all the artists that played on Saturday:

Oceans In Love

Farewell Flight

High Flight Society

Children 18:3

Run Kid Run

Every Day Process

R-Swift

Fireflight

John Mark McMillan

Disciple

mewithoutYou

Anberlin

Ace Augustine

Texas in July

Becoming the Archetype

Spoken

I am Terrified

War of Ages

The Showdown

Project 86

Abel

Reilly

B. Reith

Rainchildren

Deas Vail

Seabird

Bradley Hathaway

One thing I noticed is there are way too many bands with the word "flight" in their name.

Purple Door 2009: Day One

A little over a week ago I went to the Purple Door arts and music festival with my girlfriend and my friends Natalie and Jesse. There were a lot of great bands there this year. We arrived Friday evening on August 14th. We watched House of Heroes first and then walked around the grounds looking at all the booths they had set up.

(House of Heroes)

There was a booth for Compassion, The Love Alliance, Fakelife Clothing, and Relevant Magazine just to name a few. So Purple Door isn't just about music and art, it's also about activism. It's about getting God's people to get out there and make a difference because that's what true Christianity is about. Unfortunately for many Christianity has become reduced to t-shirts, bumper stickers, and music that doesn't do much more than rip off popular culture. It has become a lifestyle for many rather than a life change.

Anyway, I'm ranting. Back to the experience we had. And sorry for such a link-heavy post, but there's a lot of good stuff out there to see, so click on them, after you're done reading this blog of course. Just kidding, click on them now before you forget to. After looking at all the booths and merch, we went back to the main stage to see pastor speaker, and artist Eric Samuel Timm. He had a great message and painted this awesome picture:




It says "Share Your Love" if you can't see it, or you can click on any picture to see it full size. After Eric was finished a band called Reilly came out and performed some praise and worship music. I went through my rap and hip-hop phase a few years ago but I'm not really into that kind of music that much anymore, but I will say that I was impressed by an artist called Lecrae. He had some great lyrics and had some cool things to say up on stage. Finally to end the night, Family Force 5 performed. We stayed for a couple songs but my girlfriend and I both agreed that they were really obnoxious. They weren't that bad when I saw them at Purple Door in 2007. But they were just annoying this year, I'm sorry if I've offended any fans. Maybe I'm just getting old, I just turned 31 this past Saturday.

We met up with Jesse and Natalie at the hotel room that we got a good deal on. We paid the same for a suite that we would have paid for a regular room at the Wyndham hotel. It wasn't a huge room though, but we didn't spend a whole lot of time in the hotel. They had a pretty good continental breakfast in the morning though. After breakfast we went back to Purple Door for day two. I'll talk about day two another day, but below is a list and links for all the bands that played on Friday night.

House of Heroes

Nevertheless

Reilly

Lecrae

Family Force 5

Shawn McDonald

Rescue is Possible

Hyland

The Pledge

Receiving the Ghost

Pillar

The reason they were able to have so many acts in one night is because they have three different stages. They have a Main stage for the bigger acts, a Gallery stage for the up and coming acts, and a Hard Music stage for all the hardcore music.

Artsy Fartsy Wednesday ~ Caught in a Webb

Poverty is so hard to see
When it’s only on your tv and twenty miles across town
Where we’re all living so good
That we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
Where he’s hungry and not feeling so good
From going through our trash
He says, more than just your cash and coin
I want your time, I want your voice
I want the things you just can’t give me

So what must we do
Here in the west we want to follow you
We speak the language and we keep all the rules
Even a few we made up
Come on and follow me
But sell your house, sell your SUV
Sell your stocks, sell your security
And give it to the poor
What is this, hey what’s the deal
I don’t sleep around and i don’t steal
I want the things you just can’t give me

Because what you do to the least of these
My brother’s, you have done it to me
Because I want the things you just can’t give me

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I thought I would start out this post with a song by Derek Webb. I thought I would put it first as an introduction. I have to confess that the first time I heard this song I wept. Sure, call me a sissy, but it made me realize how selfish I can be sometimes. I admit I didn't go right out and sell all my possessions that day, but I definitely have a better understanding of what Jesus really wants. He could care less about our money, not that we shouldn't give it away, but what about our time, our talents and gifts as well? We shouldn't treat God like a teenage kid that want's to bum money off us from time to time, but I think that's how many people feel when the give, when they tithe. God want's out time to be well spent and he wants us to use the talents he has given us to do good to others.

I believe this song somewhat goes along with what I was talking about on Monday. I first found out about Derek at Purple Door in 2007. He was playing the Gallery stage. He was just some background noise as I was talking with my friends and I wasn't really paying attention to the music. But then he started to speak and all of a sudden, Derek Webb became the most memorable person to me at Purple Door that year. He had a lot of great insights and he even quoted something Tony Campolo (who I mentioned on Monday) said in front of many Christian audiences: "I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a shit. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night." Wow. What's appalling about that is not the fact he said "shit", it's the fact that the statement is, for the most part, true about many Christians.

So that was my introduction to Derek Webb. I was hoping he would be at Purple Door this year, but he's not on the line-up. I'll get the chance to meet and talk with him some day I'm sure. After listening to his podcast I found that we think a lot alike on many issues, mainly art. I took a few audio clips from the Derek Webb podcast and posted them below so you can hear what Derek has to say about certain issues. The first one is about 12 minutes, the second is about 3 and a half minutes, and the last one is about 13 minutes. If you want to hear more of Derek Webb, subscribe to his podcast at iTunes. It's been well over a year since he's done any, but I recommend listening to the ones he has. There is even a four part series of a conversation he had with Donald Miller. Enjoy these clips.

I'm going to end this post with a video and the lyrics to the song "Wedding Dress" which is the song he mentioned in the last audio clip. See you all tomorrow.







If you could love me as a wife
And for my wedding gift, your life
Should that be all I'll ever need
Or is there more I'm looking for
And should I read between the lines
And look for blessings in disguise
To make me handsome, rich, and wise
Is that really what you want

I am a whore I do confess
But I put you on just like a wedding dress
And I run down the aisle
I'm a prodigal with no way home
But I put you on just like a ring of gold
And I run down the aisle to you
So could you love this bastard child
Though I don't trust you to provide
With one hand in a pot of gold
And with the other in your side
I am so easily satisfied
By the call of lovers less wild
That I would take a little cash
Over your very flesh and blood

Because money cannot buy
A husbands jealous eye
When you have knowingly deceived his wife



You can find Derek's website here. However, it seems there is something strange going on there right now.

Artsy Fartsy Wednesday ~ Mufreesboro

In the summer of 2007 I went to a music and arts festival called Purple Door in Lewisberry, PA which is just outside the state capital of Harrisburg. Some of my favorite bands were there such as mewithoutYou, Anberlin, and Spoken. I also discovered a few artists that I now enjoy listening to now like The Chariot, Derek Webb, and Cool Hand Luke. Today I would like to talk about Cool Hand Luke, the band, not the movie.

I had heard of Cool Hand Luke before but never really heard their music. I was browsing the merch section of the festival with my friend Jesse when he told me Cool Hand Luke was going to be playing soon. Before we left the merch section I picked up a Cool Hand Luke CD on a whim that I would like it. Plus it came with a free t-shirt. Anyway we went to see them play and they were awesome. I like most genres of music but I try to find ones that are unique to the genre they are in and Cool Hand Luke definitely fit this description. Plus they didn't just come, play a show, and then leave. They stuck around all weekend and hung out with the fans. The next day I saw the bass player playing hacky-sack with a bunch of kids. Later I walked by the bass player and he pointed at me and smiled probably because I was wearing the Cool Hand Luke shirt I had bought the day before. By the way, you never wear the shirt of a band that is playing that day, it's improper band shirt etiquette. That's why I wore it the day after they played. The bass player also came out on stage during the mewithoutYou set and belted out some of the Arabic lyrics from the song "The Dryness and the Rain" with Aaron Weiss. Below are a few photos I took at Purple Door '07 of the band.





The album I picked up is called "The Balancing Act". The cover art is found at the beginning of this post. It's a compilation of songs from previous albums and maybe a few new ones. This is the only album of theirs I own, but I plan on getting the other ones. A booklet came with "The Balancing Act" which give a history of the band. I'm going to share a few sections of that. Mark Nicks wrote:

"I met Brandon and Jason in 1998 at a Ruby Tuesday in Mufreesboro, TN the night before the last exam of my freshman year at Middle Tennessee State University. The first thing they said to me was, "Do you play drums?" I did. They asked me if I wanted to play in a Christian punk band. I didn't. I was losing interest in punk music and I didn't know much about Christian music except that I usually didn't think it was very good. For some reason, though, I called Brandon the next week. His number was scribbled on the back of a picture of Gwynneth Paltrow that one of their friends had in his wallet. A few days later I met up with Brandon and Jason, and we walked around 2nd Ave. in Nashville. They informed me that the band already had a name - Cool Hand Luke. They had never seen the movie. In fact, they didn't know it was a movie before I told them. They had heard someone say it and thought it sounded like a good name."

"I was very impressed that Brandon suggested we pray before we started playing. I wasn't accustomed to praying about something like playing music, but I thought it was a great idea. It immediately showed me that Brandon and Jason were real about their faith and they really wanted it to be a part of the music they played. It became an important part of Cool Hand Luke."

"It didn't take long for us to realize that our vision for what we wanted this band to be had very little to do with entertaining people or playing music that made our audiences mosh. We started to take our faith more seriously and how we could get that across musically and lyrically without it seeming trite or cliché."

"We could all write pages and pages of funny, ridiculous, moving stories from those days. Stories about our 25-year old van with linoleum floors and more cabinets than seats that got so hot that we had to drive with the side door open, stories about that van breaking down just about anywhere in America and praying that it would start again, stories about dumb shows in which the number of bands playing was greater than the number of people in attendance, stories about staying in a house that was so gross we drove through a tornado just to leave it, stories about Joe Creep (the band's manager) putting the WRONG water bottle on stage so that I took a big gulp of my urine after our first song, and lots of other stories"

Those are just a few blurbs from the booklet. Say Mufreesboro, it's fun to say. I especially like how he said they wanted to share their faith through their music without it sounding trite or cliché. I think that is a huge problem in the Christian music industry. There are too many artists out there who have written piss poor music and then say that it was inspired by God. I think that is so wrong. What if God doesn't want to be associated with that song because it doesn't represent what he is truly about? I think we should use our God-given talents to just create art and music and allow God to flow out of it rather than try to cram him into it.

Well, I've rambled on long enough, time to bring this one to a close. I'll leave you with a video and the lyrics to a Cool Hand Luke song called "Wonder Tour". This song helped me during a rough time in my life. I had just graduated from college and I hadn't found a job in my field yet. This song really spoke to me, I hope it speaks to you. God bless.



You've already made to many mistakes
To ever amount to anything great
You're not allowed to dream out loud
You're far too young to even count
And much too poor without any doubt
And you haven't done nearly enough
To deserve any grace or anyone's love

God speak truth
To the lies that we've believed instead of you

You're in the wrong city for that line of work
And you'll never make it unless you're a jerk
Live for yourself and store up more wealth
We've traded in dreams and youthful ideals
For less noble things of paying the bills
And trying our best to look like the rest
While hiding our fears by the way we all dress

God speak truth
To the paychecks we have trusted instead of you

Visit the official Cool Hand Luke site here.