Today's Musical Notes are in no way intended to make light of the seriousness of our world. We are saddened by the tragedy of the Sunday evening events in Las Vegas that most of us awoke to on Monday. We firmly believe that events like these go to prove that lives (all lives) are precious and only love can be our salvation. The hatred that is seen in our political arena, espoused, expanded, and amplified by the media (print, video, and social) do nothing to espouse, expand, and amplify the love we should have for one another. The Beatles were right. Love is all we need. More importantly, the Bible speaks of the KIND of love we all need. Specifically, the love of the One who gave His life so we could spend eternity future together. His Name is Jesus. We can love ANYONE in the power of the name of Jesus! We pray today for those who were hurt Sunday night. We pray for the families of those that were killed. We are thankful and pray for those who responded to the scene in form of law enforcement and first responders. But most of all we pray for the love of Jesus to permeate every sinew of our beings.
We are also saddened by the death of Tom Petty. He was a staple of '80s radio and an icon in the music industry. For more on Tom Petty and his band The Heartbreakers in a way only Tuesday's Musical Notes can do, please visit:
It is with this spirit that we welcome you, dear friend, to Tuesday's Musical Notes in the only way we know how to present them...as a light shining in a dark world.
Psalm 90:12 - "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."
And now, Tuesday's Musical Notes...
Welcome to Tuesday! Welcome to October! Welcome to cooler weather and EVERYTHING pumpkiny...yes...I know that it isn't officially a word...I checked...(was that a laugh coming from dictionary.com?) Anyway, welcome to probably my favorite month of the year. Still warm enough outside to do some things, (high school and college football are in full swing, who needs the NFL!), the days are growing shorter (much to the chagrin of everyone in my family but me), and since it's the first Tuesday of the month, we get to reimagine an email only Musical Note from a little more than 5 years ago! So put on your best flashback traveling gear and let's go back to the 2012 year!!! It's time for The Notes!
If you need a handyman, I am not your guy. I really wish that I was good at building or repairing things (Tammy sometimes wishes this a lot more than I do). I envy you guys that are able to see a problem and see exactly what needs to be built to solve that problem. you know the type. These are the folks that can go get the supplies they need and immediately set about building the perfect solution. Then voila!!! Problem solved. I try my best to make friends with people who are creative with their hands, just in case I need their expertise at some point in the future. Fortunately, I can usually talk to them in their nomenclature.....I read a lot and boy, does Bing ever help!!! Sometimes their expertise and instructions go way over my head and I resort to smiling and shaking my head in an affirmative manner like I totally understand what they are talking about. Some of these same folks smile and shake their head the same way when I attempt to explain a musical concept. The joy of it is that what we have in common is that we are going about constructing something.
I guess in many ways we are all building cities of sorts. If we can speak in a metaphorical way, that is. While some of us have the talent and gifts to build physical things, ALL of us are building spiritual things. And I don't mean building spiritual things in this sense.....Field of Dreams trailer.
In 1965 a group of musicians came together and joined the psychedelic movement that was blowing up in the San Francisco area. Jefferson Airplane was formed at a time when music was being turned on its ear. They experienced some success with hits like "White Rabbit" and "Volunteers" in the 60's and even as late as 1989 released an album under the Jefferson Airplane name. Burdened with battles of drug and alcohol abuse, the band, Jefferson Airplane, didn't see much commercial success past the 1960's. Then an interesting thing happened as it does sometimes in the music industry.
In 1965 a group of musicians came together and joined the psychedelic movement that was blowing up in the San Francisco area. Jefferson Airplane was formed at a time when music was being turned on its ear. They experienced some success with hits like "White Rabbit" and "Volunteers" in the 60's and even as late as 1989 released an album under the Jefferson Airplane name. Burdened with battles of drug and alcohol abuse, the band, Jefferson Airplane, didn't see much commercial success past the 1960's. Then an interesting thing happened as it does sometimes in the music industry.
One of the beautiful things about old school record listening is pulling the plastic platter of goodness out of what began as, just a paper sleeve. It later evolved into an incredible marketing tool as well as a way of passing credit to the artists who helped create said ear candy. They were called liner notes.
If you happen to inspect the liner notes, (something you are unable to do in our download/streaming happy universe ah the joys of vinyl), you find that in most popular musical groups band member rosters transform. Even super groups Chicago (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Hard To Say I'm Sorry") and the Rolling Stones (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Sympathy for the Devil") have had membership changes as they make the music to which we listen. From a legal standpoint, the change in musicians must sometimes result in a complete overhaul of the band, including its name. Such is the case with Jefferson Airplane.
As the musical tastes of the buying public transitioned, and much like the genealogical lists in the Bible, The Jefferson Airplane begat Jefferson Starship begat Starship. These are 3 separate and distinct bands, 2 of which evolved from the original. Each incarnation of the band retained its individual name and music for legal purposes and on occasion, they tour with the majority of bandmates that were in their respective groups.
Today's featured band is the of the Starship variety. They continue to tour as Starship featuring Mickey Thomas and released the Loveless Fascination album in 2013.
The biggest commercial hit of any of the 3 groups was 1985's "We Built This City" from Starship's Album Knee Deep In The Hoopla. It hit #1 in November of that year. Let's give it a listen:
"We Built This City" from the 1985 album Knee Deep in the Hoopla from Starship
In a touch of irony, Rolling Stone magazine named the song the #1 worst song of the 80's in a recent online poll.
("The Ten Worst Songs of the 80's" Rolling Stone Magazine reader's poll)
I'm not sure what this means, but with a couple of exceptions, I like those songs......This goes to show you how shaky people's tastes can be. Perhaps Starship should have built their city on something other than rock-n-roll.
All throughout the Bible, God shows us the story of how man builds things. In Genesis, we see early man building cities:
"We Built This City" from the 1985 album Knee Deep in the Hoopla from Starship
In a touch of irony, Rolling Stone magazine named the song the #1 worst song of the 80's in a recent online poll.
("The Ten Worst Songs of the 80's" Rolling Stone Magazine reader's poll)
I'm not sure what this means, but with a couple of exceptions, I like those songs......This goes to show you how shaky people's tastes can be. Perhaps Starship should have built their city on something other than rock-n-roll.
All throughout the Bible, God shows us the story of how man builds things. In Genesis, we see early man building cities:
Genesis 4:17 English Standard Version of the Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible/New King James Version of the Bible parallel
King James Version (KJV)
17And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
In Genesis 11 we later see in the story of the tower of Babel, how man's ability to communicate caused him to want to create a name for himself rather than worship God. Imagine being able to communicate with anyone in the world in a language you both understand. This example from the Bible shows the danger behind that ability and how God confounded their ability to communicate. From this action, God scattered them over the face of the earth. Causes one to ponder on the virtues of facebook, snapchat, instagram, and even youtube.
In The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to the disciple Matthew chapter7:23-27 ESV/The Message/NKJV, Jesus tells us the story of the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the foolish man who built upon the sand. The wise man dug until he hit the substance that he wanted for the foundation of his house. I think this is a proper analogy for how we are to study the Bible. Our houses or anything else we will build must have a strong foundation. Until we explore what is beneath the surface, we won't know what that foundation is. Sometimes the digging is arduous, other times it is simple, but there is always a clearing away of the topsoil to see what is underneath the surface of where we want to build. A daily quiet time and Bible Study are essential to building your "city" on the most solid foundation ever. Ephesians 2:19-22 ESV/The Message/NKJV tells us that as Christians we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone....I can't think of anything better to build my city on.....can you?
Back in the '70's we had the Parade of Homes here in Searcy. That was a big day for us as a family. Mom and Dad would take us to the newest homes in town and we would get to parade through like we owned it. The homes were beautiful and equipped with the newest gadgets that were available. But these homes cannot compare to what Christians have in store. In John, Jesus promises to go and prepare a place for us. Just imagine a place that Jesus, the creator of the world, is building just for you and me. I think Keith Green put it best:
'Til Tuesday
Serving Him by serving you,
Randy
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