Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Miracles" (Jefferson Starship)




Welcome to Tuesday! You have arrived at Tuesday's Musical Notes!  Is that where you intended to be?  We sure hope so as we celebrate the best day of the week by highlighting some of the best music ever!
We take melody combined with lyric and then analyze, scrutinize, and sometimes criticize that very combination to make a sometimes awe-inspiring, thought-provoking, and an expectantly life-changing point.  It is Tuesday's Musical Notes' ambition to provide a context to our life based on truth wrapped up in a tortilla of entertaining ambiance.  

All of this bloggy goodness started the last Tuesday of May in 2012. Today, Tuesday's Musical Notes has 426 blog posts about music and life. (Check out the complete list by month on the left side of your screen or use the search box for your fave song or group.)  Even better than how many posts is the fact that The Notes has been seen more than 51,000 times in countries all over the world.  Given these numbers, it is safe to say that we here at Tuesday's Musical Notes are grateful and strongly believe in...miracles.  And that's how we get by...


In 1965, 20-year-old Marty Balin gutted a pizza joint and converted it to a music club, naming it The Matrix. This allowed him to always have a place to perform his music with a band that he would put together.  Balin would team up with folk musician Paul Kantner, as they started the propellers of Jefferson Airplane.  After seeing musicians come and go, Jefferson Airplane hit on a lineup that would take them down the runway and keep them soaring, albeit with a fluctuating lineup and almost as often a fluctuating band name, for the next 50 years.  

The 1966-1970 lineup was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 (as the Jefferson Airplane) and included Balin (vocals/guitar), Kantner (guitar/vocals), Jorma Kaukonen (lead guitar/vocals), Grace Slick (vocals/keyboards), Jack Cassady (bass), and Spence Dryden (drums).  Amazingly, this lineup only saw two top ten hits both of which came in 1967 ("Somebody to Love" (#5) and "White Rabbit" (#8)).  Their impact on music however spans the generations as they were pioneers in psychedelic rock during the Summer of Love (1967).

With the aforementioned personnel changes and making the attempt to reflect the beginning space race, Airplanes became Starships.  The group's new name is reflective of Paul Katner's 1970 solo effort, Blows Against the Empire which credited backing musicians, Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia and Mickey Hart, (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Touch of Grey" (The Grateful Dead)), David Crosby (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Turn, Turn, Turn" (The Byrds)), Peter Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Graham Nash (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Teach Your Children Well" (Crosby, Stills, and Nash), Tuesday's Musical Notes - Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" (Crosby, Stills, and Nash), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Wasted on the Way" (Crosby, Stills, and Nash),)  as the Jefferson Starship. 

For the next ten years, the original group with a new band name taken from Katner would see the hits come as fast as rocket fuel burns.  8 Gold or Platinum albums and 9 top 40 singles would erupt from this new incarnation of the band.   

"Miracles" was one of those 9 top 40 singles.  It peaked at #3 for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.  It was written by Marty Balin who had left the group early in its Jefferson Starship incarnation but returned full time to the band with the Red Octopus album.  Inspiration for the song came from a duality of places. Balin wrote it as a love song for the woman he was dating at the time and as a tribute to an Indian guru thought to be a miracle worker.  

Balin would remain with the group until it changed its name again as well as its musical direction.  He would not be in the band that would emerge from the litigated name change...Starship (Tuesday's Musical Notes - We Built This City (Starship)).  The Jefferson Airplane would however reform with Balin as lead singer for the 1989 self-titled and final album to mixed reviews, but an incredibly successful album tour.  

The group that started as a house band for a remodeled pizza joint, continues to see its music played on classic radio and its legacy promulgated by music historians and fans alike.  If only they believed in miracles...

Do you believe in miracles?  Have you ever been a recipient of one? 

If you were to read the history of the book we call the Bible, you would certainly have to admit to miraculous occurrences happening for us to have it available to us today. The book itself is the recounting of astonishing events that science, even by today's standards, find it difficult to explain. However, if you were to speak to an Orthodox Jew, they would quickly narrate the miraculous as it applies to their nation, especially in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible.  

For today, The Notes would like to focus on a passage that has been and continues to be the making of Sunday School lessons all over the world.  Let's take a look:


Imagine seeing over 2 million people walk across a dry sea bed with walls of water on either side.  Once every one of them is safely on the other shore their enemy is swallowed up by the water walls returning to their place of origin.  This is what should have been on the minds of the Israelites as they were beginning their journey to the land that was promised to their ancestor Abraham. 

 What were they thinking of instead?

"I'm hungry, I'm thirsty.  We would have been better off if we had stayed put!" (obviously paraphrased with a little whiny in the mix).  This generation of Israelites had just witnessed God destroying the economy and health of the world's first superpower, Egypt.  Then they watched as God defeated the arrogance and pride of Egypt's military in the parting of the Red Sea.  Why would they doubt that this same God would provide nourishment in abundance for them now that they began their journey to the land of promise?  Why would they declare their allegiance to a lifestyle of slavery as being better than their current circumstance?  

It is very easy to be critical of the Israelites at this point.  It is unfathomable that they would have been witness to the greatest miracles of their time and then complain when their stomachs began to growl.    

But, let's be very careful in our critique.  Are we not witness to the miraculous every day when a baby is born, that someone is in remission from cancer or recovers from covid-19?  Are we not spectators to some of the most incredible advances in communications and technology ever in the history of mankind? Do we not breathe the only sustainable air in the universe? "If only you believed in miracles..."

God did provide food.  More food than the Israelites could eat in fact.  But it wasn't due to their complaints or their faithlessness, it was due to His faithfulness.

God shouldn't have to move heaven and earth for you to believe in miracles.  Perhaps we should look all around us more and listen to our stomachs growling less...

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Where Do We Go From Here?" (Chicago)








Welcome to Tuesday and the July 21st edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!  

Is it just me, or do those of you who happen to be older than 50 feel like we are reliving 1970?  
In 1970 the relationship between black folks and white folks was a constant topic of conversation.  In 1970, protests were being held and folks were killed during such protests.  In 1970, the environment became a hot button topic that became politicized.  In 1970, the space race heated up as the United States attempted another manned moon landing (Houston we've had a problem!).  In 1970, The Beatles broke up but maintained continued success as their music topped charts and sold.  (sorry we missed your birthday Ringo!)  And in 1970, the fusion of rock and jazz, the band from the windy city, the favorite musical act of all times (as voted upon by the author of Tuesday's Musical Notes), releases their 2nd album, the aptly titled Chicago.  From this album comes a b-side that you should not miss:


and...just as important and timely in 2020 


Chicago, or Chicago II for you roman numeral purists out there, was the sophomore effort from the band Chicago.  (For more background on Chicago, go check out any or all of the previous 11 featured songs by the band at Tuesday's Musical Notes.  You need only type "Chicago" in the search box on the upper left-hand side of the screen and a plethora of Musical Notes featuring our favorite band will be available for your perusal...please peruse away!!!  We'll wait for ya!) 

"Every day just gets a little shorter, don't you think? Take a look around you and you'll see just what I mean
People got to come together, not just out of fear..."

From the opening lines and the laid back, stripped down instrumentals, you soon realize this Peter Cetera (his second with writing credit) penned song has a deeper meaning than your typical pop 40 fare.  "Where Do We Go From Here?" is the flip side to the #4 smash, "25 or 6 to 4", "Where Do We Go From Here?" asks a never-aging question...what's next?  What do we do when it seems that things are happening quicker than what we would like?  What happens when we really don't have control?  What happens when folks just can't seem to get along and agree about the simplest things?  These are questions an ancient society also found itself asking of its leaders.


The Israelites had celebrated God's defeat of the Egyptian army with the first recorded song in the Bible. (Exodus 15:1-21 NASB/The Message/KJV) Now that the party was over and they had achieved their freedom from slavery, the Israelites began the task of learning how to become a nation. Imagine turning around after the miracle of the Red Sea and viewing...desert.

"Try to find a better place but soon it's all the same.  What once you thought was a paradise is not just what it seemed.  The more I look around, I find, the more I have to fear...Where do we go, where do we go, where do we go from here?"  

The Israelites quickly went from the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat.  Imagine around 2 1/2 million people beginning to trek through the desert.  After three days they found water and soon discovered that euphoria only lasts as long as you have fresh water.  The water they discovered was bitter.  The people complain.  Moses prays.  God provides.  God then began relaying the statutes by which He wanted the Israelites to live.    His testing became the training they would need to defeat the inhabitants of the promised land.  But a cycle of discontentment had already been allowed to rear its ugly head.  The distance from Marah (where the bitter water was) to Elim (12 springs of water and 70 date palms) was only 5 miles.  This insatiable desire to know where do we go from here would lead to the eventual undoing of the nation of Israel.  More about that later...

We find ourselves in a similar land of discontentment.  The common questions now seem to be, "What will things be like after Covid-19?"  "How will the next Presidential election impact my life?"  "Will there ever be a time when folks see the character of one's life and not the pigment of their skin?" "Where can we find water that isn't bitter?"  How far is it from your Marah to your Elim?

Perhaps none of these are the questions we should be asking?  Perhaps today's feature song points us to the best question we could ask.  "Where do we go, where do we go, where do we go from here?"

The Bible provides the answer to this inquiry in the telling of Jesus.  With each turn of the page, we see His imprint on the life of those who surrender to the statues which God illuminated to the Israelites.  “If you listen, listen obediently to how God tells you to live in his presence, obeying his commandments and keeping all his laws, then I won’t strike you with all the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians; I am God your healer.”  (Exodus 15:26 The Message)

Living up to this precept from God is not easy.  The prophet Isaiah elaborated on the subject of living up to God's standards:  Isaiah 55:8-13 NASB/The Message/KJV  Later on in the New Testament, the Gospels (The Gospel of Jesus according to the disciple Matthew, a tax collector NASB/The Message/KJV, The Gospel of Jesus according to the disciple Mark NASB/The Message/KJV, The Gospel of Jesus according to the disciple Luke, a physician NASB/The Message/KJV, The Gospel of Jesus according to the disciple John, a fisherman NASB/The Message/KJV) tell the example of how to live the covenant life that God described to the Israelites and then further on the church persecutor turned church permeator, Paul, wrote a letter to the believers in Rome about their relationship to God:  Paul's letter to the believers in Rome, chapter 3 NASB/The Message/KJV

So, where do we go?  What do we do with the example and sacrifice of Jesus? I think Chicago can put us in a position to start...

I know it's hard for you to
Change your way of life
I know it's hard for you to do
The world is full of people
Dying to be free...

The answer?  We go to Jesus...

That's where we go...that's where we go...that's where we go from here...

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Octopus's Garden" (The Beatles)





















Welcome to Tuesday!  On April 9th of 2019 (goodness that seems like a long time ago) Tuesday's Musical Notes embarked on a journey through the great story that is the Bible. (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Beginnings" (Chicago))  We began this travelogue as a response to a disparity, even among those who profess Jesus as their Savior, in Biblical illiteracy and application. This trend seems to have cultivated in the past 50 years as we have allowed a variety of distractions to take up the time we once devoted to Bible consumption.  

As we traveled we encountered some familiar history (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Rainbow Connection" (Kermit the Frog)) and perhaps some narratives that we didn't know as well.  (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Alcohol" (Brad Paisley))  Regardless of how well we knew the facts, it is the Notes' hope that we have allowed God to change us by becoming more familiar with what His Word has to say.  

While some of the stories in the Bible are a mite complex, many of them exhibit a simplicity that exudes the charm and comfort we need in today's world.  They are much like today's feature song.  Ready to visit an underwater garden in the shade?


In many ways, Ringo Starr is the unsung hero of the Beatles.  He did not contribute as many songs to The Beatles' libraries like Paul McCartney (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Wonderful Christmastime" (Paul McCartney)), or John Lennon, nor does he show the guitar and songwriting prowess of George Harrison (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Got My Mind Set on You" (George Harrison), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "The Light that has Lighted the World" (George Harrison)), but Ringo adds stability in the simplicity of his drumming and songwriting and at times in the relationships amongst The Beatles.  One could even argue that Ringo has been a more consistent performer over the years as he continues to draw musicians together to tour with him at his All-Starr Band concerts.  Furthering this consistency, Ringo Starr has also had an extensive film career. (appearing in a variety of 47 films and television episodes which include 6 Beatles films, concert films and a host of documentaries)  

There is no better showcase, in the opinion of Tuesday's Musical Notes, of Ringo's likably simplistic songwriting and the consistent stability of his music than "Octopus's Garden". Here's a bit more info on today's song:
  

Egypt's economy was decimated.  Their water had been contaminated, their crops were destroyed, and they had lost a generation of people through the death of all firstborn.  Pharaoh's stubbornness had resulted in the destruction of a world superpower.  Because of all of this, He relented and allowed the Israelites to leave Egypt as Moses and Aaron had been requesting.  Many Egyptians left with them.  

As they departed, there are a couple of things to notice before the children of Israel get to their opportunity to see an Octopus's garden.  Let's look at today's Bible passage:


First, when Moses leads the Israelites from Egypt, they didn't go straight to the Red Sea crossing.  The Israelites were a brand new nation, struggling to get their freedom.  God knew that it was not the time for them to be tangling with the Philistines, which they would do if they took a collinear trajectory to the Promised Land. (Remember the Philistines, they are major players later on)  God also knew that they would ultimately disobey and He needed them in a position to be able to wander a few years while they found themselves and understood their relationship to Him. Based on this, the Bible records the journey to the point of the Red Sea crossing taking significantly longer than what is depicted in any of the film adaptations of today's passage. Context and perspective.  Read and study the Bible first, then watch your favorite movie about Moses or do your internet queries.  Always verify by what the Bible says.   

Second, to complete the destruction of Egypt, God needed to eradicate one more point of Egyptian pride, its military might.  The Red Sea Crossing accomplishes this.  Pharoah took every chariot in Egypt in pursuit of the Hebrews. Leading the way were 600 of his finest military officers.  Exodus 14:6-7 NASB/The Message/KJV

Finally, The Israelites upon reaching the Red Sea and seeing God's power, they crossed on dry ground as the Bible says.  The place of the Red Sea crossing is a point of controversy.  A variety of theories have been postulated about the location of the Israelites passage on dry ground through a few Octopus gardens.  In debating its location, the point of this miracle is missed.  God is all-powerful.  He can control what we understand are the elements of this world and manipulate them to His will.  


Mankind attempts to prove what can only be believed by faith.  
The Bible has an entire chapter devoted to faith.  It proves interesting reading:


The filmography of the Red Sea crossing goes to prove how difficult the parting of the waters would have been and provides some fascinating context of the event.   


This passage of Scripture, regardless of where you think it may have happened, has to be accepted like so many other passages of the Bible.  By simple faith.



Oh and yes, there is a high probability of Octopus gardens in the Red Sea...



































Let's face it, one of the reasons folks don't consistently read and study the Bible is that it has a reputation for having some really difficult to understand passages.  But in reality, the Bible is a simple book. God created mankind to have a relationship with Him.  Mankind broke the relationship with his lack of trust in and disobedience to God. To repair the relationship, God sent Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice.  This sacrifice restores the broken relationship if mankind believes in its premises.  Mankind gets reunited with God through Holy Spirit dwelling in him. God, through Holy Spirit, works in mankind's life in this reality making him more like Jesus.  Mankind receives the ultimate restoration upon his departure from this reality as he is united with God in heaven after a life of shaping himself in Jesus' likeness.

"...He'd let us in, knows where we've been..."  Are you ready to take a simple step of faith?  "...I'd ask my friends to come and see..."

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Fade to Black" (Metallica)





















It's Tuesday.  Let's begin.

It seems that every few years or so a book series that leads to a movie series about a dystopian world comes along, gains popularity, and makes a boatload of profit.  In recent years we have seen the serial books and movies, The Hunger Games and Divergent set the bar for a type of fiction that was started long ago.  While not a series, George Orwell certainly promulgated the genre with his 1961 penned tome, 1984.  These imaginings put to paper seem to heighten the fascination with what the earth will be like when it ends.  It is one of those unknowns that we grow concerned about as we read/listen to the news, regardless of the source. It seems that there is much to be made of what will happen as the world as we know it...fades to black.


The second studio album by the metal band Metallica began as an independent record sold by the record label Megaforce Records, who had to borrow money from European partners to see the album come into being.  Two months following its indie release, Ride the Lightning was rereleased by Elecktra records after the label had signed the band to a recording contract.  The album has since gone 6x platinum in the US alone.  Ride the Lightning peaked at #48 on Billboards Hot 200 and continues to make "top album of all time" lists by critics and fans alike.

Metallica took the album title from a line in Stephen King's The Stand.  While only releasing one single, "Creeping Death", the band soon found the track "Fade to Black" with its metal bending guitar solos as a fan favorite, added it to the setlists for concerts where it continues to reside. 

"Fade to Black" is a song written about the prospects of suicide as the band states that all of the members were in very dark places when it was written.  It joins a long list of songs dealing with the subject including "The Sound of Silence".  (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "The Sound of Silence" (Simon and Garfunkel, Disturbed))  

"Life it seems to fade away, drifting further every day.  Getting lost within myself, nothing matters, no one else..."  begins the song which could very easily be an anthem for the generation in which we find ourselves.  This despair is not a new thought/emotion.  The angst that comes from living in this fallen world has been around since the expulsion from Eden. Mankind has added to the dilemma by continually not listening to God despite His best efforts to get our attention. Nowhere is this more evident than in the decimation of the superpower that was Egypt. 


We've covered this passage of Scripture in a differing context with Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Harden My Heart" (Quarterflash)  

Egypt was the original superpower nation.  Those in power were thought to be gods.  They were also a polytheistic nation.  Here is a chart that notes the gods in which Egypt paid homage:


Notice that there was a corresponding plague for each God Egypt served.

Greek and Roman superpowers would take a cue from the Egyptian worship legacy as they celebrated gods of the elements with human emotions. (where's my copy of Edith Hamilton?) If you follow the history of these nations with a pantheon of gods, you will notice one common theme.  None of them are considered a superpower today.

Even Israel, founded upon the worship of the One True God, when it became a superpower became distracted and began believing in a series of neighbor nation's deities.  It seems that no nation is exempt from the temptation to stray from the One who brought them to the dance.  

Fast forward to 2020.  The United States is a relatively young nation in the scope of history.  Celebrating this past weekend its 244th birthday, (for perspective, Israel's national status could be traced back close to 4000 years) the United States began as an experiment in religious freedom, which spawned into an experiment of a constitutional republic that was as President Abraham Lincoln put it,  "of the people, by the people, and for the people".  

The United States now finds itself in a similar position to that of Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome.  It is considered a world superpower that serves a pantheon of gods.  What might those gods be?

Open your favorite news blog.  Seen anyone worshiping politics? (It is an election year after all!)  How about health? (yes there is a Biblical mandate to be healthy, but really a mirror that bosses you around?  The Mirror workout commercial) Perhaps there has been fawning over those in the Entertainment industry/Sports.  We must include money/Wall Street/the financial industry as being on our list of current gods of the United States.  With the prevalence and expression of sexual freedom in the marketplace, it should certainly make be in the ranking.  Has anyone heard anything about race? (we've said it before, we'll say it again...we are all part of one race, the human race.  Everything else is cultural bias and bigotry, nomenclature folks!) The environment and its salvation has come into the fore in the last 40 years or so as well.  (Personal conviction, we should do things that nurture and steward our world, but the earth is big enough to take care of itself. It tends to reclaim itself over time)

If you were to query a 2020 citizen of the United States about religion, you would certainly get enough of an opinion to determine that religious activity is also a god.  (seen any stats on how many folks are not going to church during the pandemic/what the effect of going to church during a pandemic has lately?)  We would be remiss to mention on our archive of the gods of the United States if we did not mention technology. (there's some really scary stuff out there...I have a bad feeling about this) Power is a god that infuses itself among several of the other gods of the US.  All of this feeds into the god of the one in the aforementioned mirror.  Me and You.  We are addicted to making things better for ourselves and our children that we forget the provider of everything we have. 

Egypt in our Scriptural narrative today was an important warning for the United States.  Look at the history of the US.  Has there been a "correction" to any of the gods on our list of which you can ponder? 

All of these gods of the United States are subject to the One True God.  He is the One worthy of our adoration and praise.  He is also the One who will continue to provide "corrections".  But much like Egypt if we do not pay attention, if we continue to harden our heart and stiffen our neck we will quickly find that God's longsuffering and patience has run out and much like Pharoah, the opportunity for true redemption will be over and God will give us over to our own devices and gods. Romans 1:28-32 NASB/The Message/KJV  In essence, we will be committing national suicide... 

"Things not what they used to be, missing One inside of me.  Deathly loss this can't be real, cannot stand this hell I feel..."

At that point, the United States, as superpowers before us have proven, will simply fade to black...

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving You,
randy


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