Cool Website

I don't know much about this church, but I linked to the site through a friend. One of the cooler sites I have seen in a while. View a talk, their media interface is amazing.

Liquid Church

How to make a living in music in Canada (Part 1)

I am getting involved in many different conversations these days about music. I suppose to some I am an expert in the field. I would more say I have walked the road and learned some things. I have not achieved full-time status in music ever, so all I can offer are some tips.

In my experience a musician needs to create music, write songs. I suppose that makes you a more complete artist, but for me, that is the best route to go to make a living. From there, there are many marketing and revenue streams that open up to you. Although this is not exhaustive here are a few:

1. Royalties from radio television and licensing.
2. CD and Digital sales of your music
3. Appearance fees
4. Merchandise that supports or represents the music created

Creating and distributing all of these things is also a challenge. I think I will start a series of writings on this topic for you to follow if you are interested.

Glen Abbey Golf Club

Well as stories does this is a good one. My dad was a member of Glen Abbey before it went public, years ago. I remeber going there while he golfed when I was a kid. As I recall they had a pool. We swam as kids and dad golfed. Totally old school country club. I never played it. I think they filled the pool in. I also think it is a totally different course then when he played, re-designed by Jack Nichlaus.

Yesterday for the first time in my life I played the course. Really fun. Even better we (FTC Canada - Feed The Children) were invited by PeopleNet Canada to be the beneficiaries of some fundraising that went on there and it was a great success. Thanks Peoplenet!!

First time out this year, so I hit some good shots and more bad ones. By the second nine I was getting some pars, although it was Texas scramble, so I did not really score.

Regardless a great day, hopefully many more like that this summer.

Great Wooden Trio

I really like these guys, and they are friends. The percussionist Greg Woods has done the drums on my pending new release.

The Stewardship Dance

It has been a year since I left being a "professional Pastor" at a church. I am now an attender at a church. It is an interesting transition which is not complete.

North America (Canada) is a strange and critical place, and implementing the vision Jesus set before us in the great commission is complicated. Jesus never required a building or programs (it would seem) to implement His vision through his work. Of course, he did use the infrastructure in place quite a lot, so he did not seem to reject the notion that the places were useful.

The ongoing conversation (and one that I think needs to continue) is whether or not it is wise to spend millions of dollars on buildings, land, sound equipment etc., when the money could be spent to feed the poor in Canada and around the world.

Here is where the disconnect is for me. Remembering I work daily to feed children in Canada and around the world. Our mission as Christians is primarily to teach and live the teachings of Jesus. Literally, creating atmospheres and opportunities for more people to just hear about Jesus and what he taught. An outcome from living what he taught should be both extravagant worship of Jesus and God (think of the women who poured expensive perfume on Jesus' feet with His approval) AND taking care of the poor (think Jesus asking in heaven why we did not give water and food to those in need).

So for me the answer is an ongoing tension. To build a building that can communicate in the vernacular of our time musically and through teaching makes sense, even if it costs some money. What doesn't make sense is the Pastor or people in the congregation living high on the hog. That too, of course, is a sliding scale worthy of much debate, but at some point we must sacrifice things to live more simply and give more away.

Like I said, ongoing tension, but sometimes the tension can be created because the vision is not being viewed holistically.

Tony Campolo

I had the opportunity to go away for a day and hear Tony Campolo speak. It was a smaller group and the event was hosted by Leader Impact Group, an organization that was started (I believe) in Ontario by Paul Hendersen of "the goal heard round the world" fame. It originally started under another name, but has since merged and grown etc.

It was a timely set of talks and the discussion with the friend I went with was also very helpful. I personally struggle with the concept of living a life of significance. I also struggle with the degree to which music plays a part in the influence and impact that I have.

In the end there were a couple of themes that I am still dwelling on.

1. As some form of a leader, what am I doing to influence my sphere intentionally and positively ?
2. Am I doing anything to care for those outside of my sphere?
3. He also affirmed that prioritizing family at this stage of life is healthy and precedented. Jesus did not start his ministry until he was about 30. Life expectancy back then was 41. Why did he wait so long to do that? His father died, and he had to take care of his family until his siblings could take over. The he hit it hard.

No doubt, Jesus was doing things towards his mission on earth increasingly as he headed for his "time". His reluctance to really launch was seen in the story where he turned water into wine. At that point he said to his mom that His time had not yet come.

Part of life is balancing pushing forward in personal growth and maintaining and managing current realities well. Never easy or simple, always interesting.

The Miscellaneous

So the big push in on to finish the new CD. It seems pretty inevitable that it will be late, but it is coming along. I have purchased Logic Studio for the end push and I am already enjoying the increased professional quality of the software.

Another thing that has been interesting has been several projects that I have done since last September. They have all greatly increased my chops and confidence in producing. The Christmas single, I wrote the theme song for the Alliance Assembly I am leading at in July, and I did a jingle for a friend as more of a joke than anything, and I also did a fun single for my daughter. Perhaps they could be considered distractions, but I have really enjoyed the process.

It is now time to focus on the final push. There may even be a way some of you can help. I will let you know.

The Church

I have had several occasions to discuss the nature of the church lately. For me I have begun to use some terminology to help me understand and discuss it better. I have started to deliniate between the institutional church and the group of Christians who collectively make up the church.

Both are Biblical. The Bible does teach that we need to gather, practice our gifts, encourage, teach and take care of each other. Sometimes, though, I think that when we do that in community, in other words, in a more relational way, through friendships from made through the institutional church but practiced away from the institutional church, we end up achieving what we believe the institutional church should do mechanically. Pretty tough row to hoe, to create an institution capable of functioning organically.

Some may look at my life and say the the institutional church has let me down, or vice versa. I think of it completely differently. I have connected in community with several other Christians who have spoken into my life consistently for years. Most of the time, some of them go to the institutional church I am attending, but more often then not, the majority are influences that transcend the many geographical moves that have taken our family to different homes and churches.

Maybe we need to do a disappearing act in terms of what the institutional church is trying to do. Maybe it needs to be a gathering place and entry point to what Jesus teaches, and the community and relational stuff, which I think is the meat of what Jesus teaches in terms of actually becoming better people, can flow from that.

Speaking on church music at the Nova conference in Toronto

So I am speaking at the Nova conference this Friday. The topic I am dealing with is how to take a church from traditional to contemporary music without blowing it up. It is a challenging topic not simply because of style issues and preferences, but because there is so much organizational baggage we are carrying today as the church. We have been so homogeneous in our tactical approach to relevancy that it has stifled the artists in our midst from participating and taking us somewhere culturally. It should be an interesting and hopefully somewhat interactive talk.

Writing Tunes

So in the midst of it all I have been working on a couple of more tunes. One is for an event I am part of , and the other is actually producing a tune my oldest daughter wrote. She is eight, and I am impressed. I am also impressed that as we started recording it she is a good session singer. On pitch, hears well, and can lay it down. It was a fun weekend.

The Basement Studio

Again with the break in blogging. Sorry. With all that is going on I have been growing in my appreciation of the single parent. Currently I am doing it all. Working full-time and parenting full-time.

One of things I have noticed that helps is if I don't stop moving. That ironically helped last week when on a couple nights I built my "vocal booth", see the photo below.



I have been reading for months about how a small basement studio guy like me can create a proper space for recording vocals. It is amazing how many big bands have done the rehearsal space recording sessions turned full blown CD projects with a similar vocal space. I actually tested it last week to some fine results. I have more to do, but it was a great start.

The View From Here

I am behind again in my story telling. You will see why in a moment.

Feb 12

I was driving home for work, a minor snow storm was afoot. I was travelling cautiously through back roads, missing traffic and looking forward to a piano recording session the next day when KABOOM! Yes you guessed it, someone ran a stop sign in the snow and hit me. I saw it coming and slowed substantially, even in the snow, but the deed was done. No recording session, lots of hassles.


Feb 14


The first date my wife and I have had in ages, literally months. Very excited. We went to a restaurant down in Port Credit called "Ten" and had a fantastic date. Some pretty good live music, great food and atmosphere.

Feb 16

My wife breaks her knee cap ice skating with the family. Brutal, still working through that one.

Feb 17

My wife's mother falls down our basement stairs while she was here to care for the kids while we went to the Doctor to get Stef's knee looked at. She is "ok", with a few breaks, and a lot of pain and recovery time ahead.

I was supposed to be heading to Guatemala with work on a medical mission. Change of plans as I try to play Mr. Mom, full-time working dad etc. Thanks goodness I am wired at home. So far it has been tough, but I am getting somethings done and taking care of the family.

Quite a time.

Comments

By the bye, I have turned comments on again. I turned them off some time ago because I was getting some wierd ones and some unfriendly ones. Alas, I am trying to toughen up and create some community around some of the topics addressed here. I am still going to moderate them so no inappropriate stuff shows up, but for those of you who have noticed that function missing, it has been revived. Chat away!

Christian Music Community in Canada (Part 2)

Another thought that I often wonder about, is why there are not more bands made up of the music pastors of churches that play somewhere with regularity. My experience in trying to get this sort of thing started was negative. I don't know if it was a competitive thing, or whether the average music pastor is less interested in playing and more interested in the pastoral side. I don't think that is a bad thing, but I do think the music community suffers when we don't put the best players together with regularity and let sharper iron make other sharp iron sharper still. See what I did there?

Just thinking.

Christian Music Community in Canada (the start of a tale)

It is an interesting landscape in Canada, or should I say lack of landscape. I have to admit as a musician in Canada I am always surprised at the lack of opportunities to play. Having been a music Pastor etc. I understand many of the challenges of hosting concerts etc, but I am happy that I was able to host several artists successfully when I was there.

So what is the landscape?
Well there are a handful of artists, who have good Canadian profile, and I think in some way or another deserves it. This list in no exhaustive, but the usual subjects can be seen.

"Bigger Names"
Steve Bell
Jacob Moon
Carolyn Arends
Amanda Falk
Greg Sczebel
Thousand Food Krutch

There are a few other bigger names, Brian Doerksen is in the HUGE category and doesn't really fit in this list. TFK might be considered huge as well.

How about record companies? Really I only know of maybe two and I am not sure that any of them are full service (recording, publishing, marketing etc.)

Avante Records
and Steve Bell's Signpost Community (link above)

I have always thought that the arts are one of the best ways to share ideas and influence culture. I am more thinking of music, but I do agree that all the art forms carry weight in that discussion. It would be great to see more communities develop like the signpost one where artists of similar genre and goals could connect to a larger group of people who identify with their work, support them, and also use it as a tool to plant seeds of thought.

The View From Here

I think I may try and start a new repeating post type called, well, The View From Here. Thoughts on where things are and possibly going, and the mundane miscellaneous.

The New Album
I have decided to start uses the retro phrase album for several reasons. One being, I will be releasing this album of songs in several formats of which CD is one. So really it is a new album of songs. Anyway, February is a crucial month. The goal is to finish bass and track as much piano as possible. The goal for release is late spring still.

Gigs
I have three things on the appearances page currently, all of which I am very excited about. I am now trying to amp up the pressure on myself by booking release concerts for fall. If you are interested in booking a release concert do contact me through the website, phone number and email contact info is there.

New Opportunities
I am working on some expansion plans as well in terms of reach and scope of involvement in the music industry. Stay tuned over this year for periodic developments.

Super Bowl
I wanted to see undefeated history; I didn't want to see NY win. Not a big fan of any one team in the NFL, but liked that story. Ahh well, not a happy ending.

Community

So we have been trying to find and connect at a new church since leaving our last church, and the place I was a Pastor for 5 years (to the day) for the last 9 months. 9 months without a church home, for lack of a better expression, has felt odd. It has been an interesting experience. Here is why.

Several years ago I was musing with a friend over why people connected or stayed with a church, and why they left. Not differentiating why they left, just that they left was our parameter. They may have left because they decided Jesus was not the answer for them, or because they decided to go to another church, but they left. We surmised that when people were involved socially with other people in the church (a small group perhaps), or involved in helping out at the church they were more immune to leaving.

In retrospect that was a good observation, but the deeper answer I think lies in what that interaction produced. After several years as a Pastor, with arguably, more insight in to why people leave churches, I saw another thing. That VERY involved people sometimes leave churches. I don't view that scenario as disproving the former theory, but rather adding a deeper bit of data. Being involved in a church socially or as a volunteer is still only one aspect of the actual interaction. The interactions must be in a safe environment that allows people to ask questions and learn more, a environment where people can deal with hard issues and grow and change. When that happens, the real qualifier is that the social interaction quenches a deeper desire to move a long a journey, and if someone is trying to learn about God and Jesus, and they are getting no where, then they will leave to somewhere else, or give up. (I suppose it could also be they just did not get what they wanted, but the whole consumer thing I am not going to address here)

So here I am a former professional pastor who believes in connecting with community and who is having a heck of a time finding a community where I feel I will be accepted. Where I feel that who I am can mix in, and the questions that I have will be accepted and worked through with me so that I can grow. You think as a former leader I would feel it easy to connect with those who believe what I believe, but the truth is, places where dialogue instead of monologue are present are rare. Having previously taught, I value having a voice.

I also value, perhaps above all else, freedom. Freedom of expression. Freedom to be sad, freedom to still wrestle and not have to put on the persona of having arrived, when I know I have miles to go. Freedom to jump up and down in worship, or lay on the ground in grief. Freedom to test a religious piety that doesn't seem to agree with what Jesus taught.

My wife and I were talking, and I surmise that with some lack of clarity, we have always sought community that gives us those things. Most times it wasn't the church itself, but people within a church that we could relate to and who could relate to us.

I will say that we have finally landed. You will figure out where after a time I am sure. It feels like maybe it will be a place where both the church and the people we are already starting to connect with will be a new and real community, and hopefully, we will be that to them as well.

Fathead

No I am not calling names. I went and saw some live blues music last night. Fathead is a Juno winning Canadian blues band, and a friend and I went and caught them at a local eatery last night. Sound system was suspect, but fortunately the skill of the band still came through. Really fun to hear some talented players playing such great riffs and shots together. It was really great. The vocals were a surprising treat as well. The band had a guitar, bass, drums, and one fellow who played sax and harmonica. Four of the five sang. When the whole thing was smoking it was like listening to a 9 piece band. Great when pretty much everyone in a band can do two things well. The drummer uses all four limbs so we will cut him some slack. Not only do I need to get out and play more myself, I got to find a way to get out and see more live music. Great vibe.

Little Encouragements (some ramblings)

I think I am the poster child for struggling artists. Check that, I am the poster child for tormented artists. I am actually tormented by the art within. How does that apply to little encouragements....read on.

I am a strange combination of right and left brain. A musician that is good at administration. A creator of music who spent five years in the finance field..blah,blah, blah.

Therein lies some of the issues. My left brain tells me that the fight to create music given what life has thrown me is crazy, just live the life that is there, my right brain can't let it go...it must have an outlet.

So I am tormented, although struggling isn't fair, we are blessed as a family.

Lately I have been getting encouragement in the midst of this down in trenches production time. Compliments, sales, new gigs from connections out of the past. Where will it all lead? Hard to say, I am just trying to finish this next CD!

Everything old is new again!

I have been getting a few people commenting as they re-discover or find for the first time The Apartment Sessions, my acoustic work from 2000. It is only $10, tax, shipping and burned CD, although it is a nice studio EP : 5 songs with piano and voice. Pick it up now and get 10% off my new CD this spring - I will let you know by email personally when that drops!

You can buy the Apartment Sessions here:

It is nice to see the old acoustic songs show staying power. Very gratifying.