DavzRaves

Islam, Judaism - Tolerance Could Lead to Democracy, Peace

2011-09-30T19:14:00.001-04:00

Islam, Judaism - Tolerance Could Lead to Democracy, Peace

Here's a link to a story and interview I did with John L. Esposito of Georgetown about the role of faith and religion in the Middle East conflict.

Arab Spring Women Continue Struggle for Equality

2011-09-30T19:10:00.002-04:00

Arab Spring Women Continue Struggle for Equality
This is a story I helped a friend and colleague Frances Alonzo write. She did most of the work, but I edited her web copy and did the interview. She set up the guests and did the research, which I used to do the interview.

Now that's good television

2011-09-30T19:07:00.000-04:00

BBC Promo photo for The Hour starring Dominc West, Ben Whishaw

and Romola Garai in a 1950s-based drama.

I've discovered the BBC America series The Hour.

It's kind of a spy thriller, journalism, spooky pre-Mad Men.

It really looks good and so far I have watched four episodes. Lots of smoking and drinking and sex, but very well written. And the look is just right. They got it on this one.

But the Beeb always does get it right. They pounce all over stuff with abandon. It's like a book you can't put down.

Speaking of books, I have been reading Mr. Murder by Dean Koontz. It's really good. I enjoy thrillers like that one. My wife is reading another one of his novels. We both read a couple of John Grisham novels recently as well. Usually she reads them first and then I read them and we talk about our impressions of the books.

Been doing a lot of video work at work so far. Boss man seems to like it. But I still love being on the radio. The magic of radio still has a hook in me, and I think it always will.

Fiscal restraint?

2011-09-07T16:46:00.000-04:00

We spent the better part of an hour this morning learning about some new equipment I will probably never use.

Apparently the powers that be deemed it necessary to spend more than $3,000 on a bunch of toys for the iPhone - and on a new iPhone - so we could do that to do "new media."

What a crock.

The first indication that this thing was not as user friendly as the purple Kool-Aid folks would like us to believe was that the dude demonstrating it couldn't get the iphone to fit into the mount. Then the bracket he brought out to say "this is what you could mount a tripod on" didn't fit the bracket that was supposed to support the iPhone. And there are special cords - tiny, easily broken, cords - that you have to use to plug a microphone into the iPhone to record sound and to be able to hear the recording.

And the bracket has a wide angle lens in it so that it can give your iPhone more reach. Great. Why not spend the money on a REAL camera? Of course, you can't tweet or twat or twiddle with a camera. You can only take professional looking video.

The emperor asked me if I was going to use this thing for my reports. The answer was simple, and to the point: "No."

And they wonder about fraud, waste, and abuse. This thing is so complicated to use that you have to have a PhD from MIT to understand it. And even then you would miss the thing you took it out for - covering the news.

Why they bought this crap, I don't know. They didn't ask those of us who might have to actually use the thing before they poured the taxpayers' dollars into it. They just bought it and now they want us to risk losing a story because we didn't get step 156 of 237 right and the video didn't record.

Sorry, but no thanks.

The Food of love

2011-06-08T20:32:00.001-04:00

Ronnie Malley and George Lawler

I had a rare opportunity last week to attend a seminar on Music in the Middle East at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

The seminar was sponsored by the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) at Georgetown and featured the Chicago-based band Lamajamal.

The band is made up of five players including Ronnie Malley on Oud, George Lawlor on percussion, Gary Kalar on guitar and chumbus (a Turkish instrument that looked a little like a canteen with a neck) Eve Monzingo on wind instruments (clarinet and sax) and Joey Spilberg on bass.

The seminar focused on three different styles of music - Middle Eastern and North African, primarily Arabic, Jewish music (Klezmer mostly) and Turkish music. Ronnie and the other members explained some of the differences - and many of the similarities - of the three types of music. Afterward, we had a chance to chat, and Ronnie Malley told me that music has often been used for political means in the Middle East - to the point that authorities hired musicians and songwriters to write songs so that people would follow them.

But the most poignant thing he said was "If I am holding the arm of an instrument, as an arm, I can play a chord to someone standing across from me, and expect a response from them, there's a communication. If I am holding a gun, the only way to properly operate that gun is to shoot the other person."

I thought that was pretty cool.

Gary Kalar and I talked about the need for arts education in schools, particularly music. He made the point that in the world of standardized tests, art is not something you can measure - like math scores - so there's no way for politicians and school officials to know if a class is a success or if a teacher is a success.

It reminded me of something I head Victor Wooten say one time in a bass clinic when asked about music in schools and budget cuts eliminating arts programs. He said school boards are elected by the people of the country "and they will only do what you allow them to. If you allow them to cut arts and music out of schools, they will. But you have the power to change that."

I hope to interview Daniel Levitin of McGill University and the author of This is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs next week. He has had a lot to say about the role music plays in society and in our lives. I'm looking forward to it.

Now That's a Story!

2011-04-26T16:38:00.000-04:00

I read this story today as part of my research into the situation in Syria.

This girl is brave, but her father sounds like a real tough dude, someone who will look people in the face and say "not on my watch." Check it out. I found it inspiring.

Metro Madness

2011-03-21T12:56:00.000-04:00

I don't understand why this happened today, but I rode the Metro to work, but at Ballston station, they made all the passengers get off the train and stand on the platform. The only problem was the platform was full of people waiting to board the train. Not like the platform in this photo; imagine the entire area of the station crammed with soaking wet, harried, hurried commuters late for work because the trains were slow. Then you might have some idea.

The Orange and Blue lines were single tracking between Farragut West and Smithsonian for track repairs. That made every other train on those two lines late. Which meant the train from Vienna, did not leave on time which made people's attitudes get tense, which made them want to cram into the trains as quickly as possible.

One lady in front of me had a broken foot and had just sat down when the operator said "all passengers must leave this train, all passengers must leave this train." I can understand if there was a bomb or something. But this was just so they could move the train out of the station because they were behind time - at least that's what Metro does most of the time when they empty a train.

So I got off the train and caught a bus, which took me on a scenic drive through downtown Arlington before reaching the Crystal City Metro station, where I caught the yellow line to work. Time I left my home: 7:05 am. Time I got to work: 10:30! Ridiculous.

Moon shot 2

2011-03-19T22:40:00.000-04:00

Another shot of the "Super Moon." This one was taken early in the evening when the moon was lower.

Moon shot

2011-03-19T22:38:00.000-04:00

Shot this photo of the "Super Moon" tonight in Manassas, Virginia.

Back on the blog

2011-03-18T19:23:00.000-04:00

It's been almost a year since I posted anything here. That's way too long. I got some bad news this week - I am getting old.

The evidence of this was brought to me by swelling and pain in my left knee. It's not torn cartilage like I thought; the doc said it was osteoarthritis.

Crud.

But it wasn't all bad. I did go to physical therapy and it helped. But this pain in my leg promises to be my companion for a while. The doctor said long term I am looking at joint replacement. But I hope the term is a long time from now.

-0-

Hey did you see that the moon is supposed to look 16% bigger and 30% brighter on Saturday night? Have to break out the camera and see if I can actually capture a decent image of the Super Moon. Look for it here if I succeed.

-0-

Not really happy with the new editor on blogger. It keeps thinking for me, and I just want it to make the next line appear. Eek. And for some reason it doesn't seem to realize that hitting the enter key means that I want to go to another paragraph. C'mon blogger or it might be another year before I come back.

Missing an old friend

2010-07-17T23:02:00.000-04:00

I went to Manassas Battlefield today to do a story about the park's marking the 149th anniversary of the Battle of 1st Manassas. But I found my self in tears at a friend's grave down the road.

The unit pictured here is part of the USMC Historical Company. The man in the foreground looking down at his rifle is an active duty Marine. So is the man directly behind him. They were at Manassas to do a firing demonstration for the 149th anniversary celebration. Both these men have been deployed "several times" though neither would say how many times or where. One is from Jacksonville, NC and the other is from Bountiful, Utah. The Corps owns the uniforms, equipment and weapons they use, but they keep it "ship shape" as long as they are part of the unit. It was a pretty impressive display.

What got to me was that talking to their Gunnery Sergeant reminded me of my friend J.R. Davison, who died on Fathers' Day, 2008. J.R. would have loved talking to this man. Both were Vietnam vets, both loved the Corps and both are about the same age. J.R. also loved shooting, and these guys were shooting .64 caliber smooth bore weapons while their Gunny described such discipline as loading in 10 times and a bayonet charge.

It was J.R.'s grave where I ended up in tears. You see he's buried at Stonewall Memory Gardens, which is part of the Second Manassas Battlefield, just down route 29 from the Henry House Hill where the firing demonstration was taking place. He was my best friend and I miss him terribly. I miss be able to call him on the phone and say "hey, there's a reenactment of the USMC at Manassas today. Wanna go?" He would have enjoyed it.

Take that off!

2009-04-26T15:42:00.002-04:00

My pastor was preaching today about putting aside things that belong to the Christian's former nature - who you were before you knew Christ. Some of what he said hit me right in the heart. Like don't be the one who complains about your employer promoting other people because God is big enough to take care of you.

Whannnnnngggg!

His text was from Colossians 3:6-14. Put aside all anger and malice, wrath, railing, etc. The word the Apostle Paul uses for anger is orge which can be both a predisposition to anger or emotional agitation and wrath.

I have to admit, my previous post about my job sounded pretty much like orge. But I am still sorting this out. Because of an abusive childhood, I do have a lot of anger. I get pissed when I am mistreated. I used to just take it, you know, be a good boy, be a nice guy, take the garbage - and seethe internally.

I don't do that any more. I am coming to learn that anger in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. It's like the horn on your car. It's a warning signal that something is wrong - that boundary has been violated, that there's danger in the situation, that worse things can happen if you ignore it.

But I still haven't learned how to be assertive without being angry. "No" was not a word that was allowed in our home - at least not if you were a kid. It didn't matter how you were treated, you couldn't say "that hurt, stop it." And the same went with my older brother's sexual abuse. I couldn't say "no" in the middle of the night when he came into my room to sexually abuse me. If I did, mom might find out, and that would be worse. (She found out later; I told her. And true to form she shamed me about it, so she wasn't safe).

But I'm not a child any more. I'm the grown up now and I can say no and mean it. But I am still learning the difference between setting and maintaining a boundary - how to stand up for myself - and being angry about everything. And I realize that some of the feelings I have are leftovers. Left over from childhood. Left over from the garbage dump. And the anger - like powder in a muzzle loader - might be left over from a previous shot that should have been fired but wasn't. But I'm not crazy - where I work is still a toxic place that mistreats its employees. Don't believe me? as the OPM.

See, I'm not nuts!

2009-04-04T16:52:00.007-04:00

I have been attending a series of lectures on Music and the Brain at the Library of Congress in Washington. The subject matter has varied from Ellen Dissanayake's talk on the origins of music to Daniel Levtin's lecture and discussion on The World in Six Songs to the last of the talks on the mind of the artist by Michael Kubovy and Judith Shatin of UVA.

I emerge from these lectures (sponsored by the Dana Foundation) feeling much like I feel when I go snorkeling - I am on the surface, but the real treasure is deeper in the water. I would like to get down into the depths and explore the subject. The more I read about it, the more I am persuaded that there is a power in music beyond just our enjoyment of it, that there is something in our wiring that is affected by music in a way that nothing else touches.

I first got interested in the subject because of my own amateur musicianship. I play guitar, bass, and sometimes keyboard (though not very well) and I have always loved it. My mother told me stories of my bouncing to the Beatles "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" in my crib.

So I knew I had an emotional attachment to music. I wanted to play it, I saw the popularity of musicians, especially good ones, and I wanted that, too. And I loved the feeling of "getting it right" of actually performing in front of people in a way that they appreciated.

I remember the electric feeling when my classmates leaped to their feet and began to cheer when my high school rock group started playing "Sweet Home Alabama." I felt like I had been plugged into a wall.

My classical guitar teacher told me that I had something that many professional musicians did not - I loved it. I did, I do, and I always will.

So learning more about this obsession intrigued me. I started reading Daniel Levitin's This is Your Brain on Music . If you have not read this book, it is excellent. It explores the way that music is processed in our brains and gives a good overview of the research into the subject. Then I started reading Music the Brain and Ecstasy by Robert Jourdain. It was a little bit harder read than Dan Levitin's book, primarily because it was a little more technical. I am currently reading Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. It is fascinating, primarily because the stories are real-world testimonies of how Dr. Sacks has experienced the way music effects people.

I would also like to read more about music in religion and about trance music. I started exploring the phenomenon of brain entrainment using binaural beats and light flashes to alter brain wave frequency. But again, I have just flown over the iceberg, I haven't even come close to the tip of it.

As a Christian musician, I want to explore the implications of this research on church music, specifically on worship services. I have noticed many people go into a trance-like state when deeply involved in worship, and I have been involved in such a state myself at times. I have believed that we were all worshiping God, but that can be done without singing or music. So I want to delve into the role that music plays in worship. Does it evoke a response, or is it a tool that helps people respond to God? What about different instruments, their timbre, range, and forcefulness? And what of singing without music? Some traditions follow the church Fathers and don't allow musical instruments in church, so what about them?

I ask these questions because I think they need to be answered. Often times, I don't hear this kind of thinking. Dan Levitin said that singing together causes the release of Oxytocin, the so-called "trust" hormone that causes women to go into labor, and helps mothers bond with their babies. This is released in our bodies when we sing together! So how does that affect what Christians would call "unity" or "fellowship"?

Sadly, when I mention these issues to some on my current worship team, they look at me like "huh?" or like that's interesting now let's get back to playing music.

But I'm not crazy.

I have likened music to Dorothy's ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz. Remember when Dorothy first gets the slippers and the wicked witch wants them? What does Glenda the good witch say? "Stay very tightly inside of them. Their magic must be very powerful, or she wouldn't want them so badly."

I think the same is true of music. People who dismiss Carlos Santana (pictured above in a photo from Santa Clara University) as "Cosmic Carlos" and laugh when I mention him should take note - Carlos has started a CHURCH. So maybe he's onto something. Maybe Christians ignore that something to their peril.

A true hero

2009-04-02T13:07:00.002-04:00

Like Many people, I was horrified to hear of the shooting rampage in a Carthage, NC retirement home this past week. The man who did it, Robert Stewart, was ultimately stopped when a 25-year-old local policeman shot him the hallway. The officer, Justin Garner, grew up in Carthage and had been a NC highway patrolman at one time before deciding to go back to his home town.

I know many who thank God that he made that decision.

This young man was apparently the only one on duty when the calls started coming in Sunday. He took his pistol and went to the Pinelake Health and Rehab Center. Despite being shot in the leg and foot with shotgun pellets, Garner was able to bring Stewart down with a single shot from his .40 cal Glock pistol.

This young man, an avid hunter and fisherman, is to be commended with the highest award we can give. He truly was willing to lay down his life to save others (as did one of the health care workers). That he did it without being told, because it was just part of his job to do so, shows that the Greatest Generation or 9-11 Firefighters aren't the last heroes.

I don't know if North Carolina plans to honor him; I know the folks in Carthage will probably make sure he doesn't need to think about cooking Sunday dinner for rest of his life. And having gone to high school at Union Pines, just down the road from where this happened, I can tell you the community is tight-knit. Everyone knows nearly everyone else. So Justin will be a hero in the hearts of people there for generations. Good goin' son. Way to get er done!

Back in the saddle

2009-03-27T13:32:00.009-04:00

Hello Blogozoids.

I realize it's been more than a month since my last posting, and that sucks. But I have a job to do and it keeps me busy, and frankly posting takes time that I struggle to catch a hold on. But there are some things that are interesting enough to air in public, one of which was a bass seminar I attended at Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center in Wheaton, Maryland. Victor Wooten - the master funkateer of the Flecktones - was giving a clinic. Since I aspire to be a master of the low end, I went with about 200 other people.

Victor was there with JD Blair, the drummer from his first CD, and Shania Twain's drummer for several years. Turns out, the brother was voted the best country drummer just for keeping a good grove. Here's the notes I took on the seminar, which was co-sponsored by Hartke, the folks who make bass amps and gear. Victor used the amp throughout the seminar, though most of the time was Q & A, not playing. But when he did play, Vic was laying down some amazing stuff.

Check out the notes, use them as needed.

Peace.

Victor Wooten clinic notes
Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center
Wheaton, MD March 23, 2009
J.D. Blair, drummer touring with Victor. VW and JD appearing at Birchmere and Rams’ Head.

Victor opened with the question: “Why are you here?”
Answers were varied – to learn, to get some inspiration, etc. Victor then added “Most people come to a clinic to see a performance; the other ½ say they are there to learn.

Why would people want to learn something from ‘one of the best’ and not bring a notebook? Victor noted that music is an elective course - we want to write it down when we are trying to learn something.
Michael Jordan on a basketball court: even stuff I disagree with I would write it down. Ideas write them down. Get all you can from anyone.
Then Vic opened it to questions and answers.

1st question was by a man who said he debated whether to stop practicing and go see Vic or continue working on his stuff. Valid question. Music is a language; to get good at this language do I stay at home or go where the best are speaking it? English is hard – the thought process behind it. Music is a language, so we can learn it. You learn a lot about a language by speaking it. Play with people more to learn how to speak. Alone in a practice room you will speak with an accent.

2nd question was about Vic’s creative process and writing. Does he set a barrier when he writes because some of what he writes might go over people’s heads?

I know if I do it, some might not understand it, but if it’s grooving right, then you get it. I do things that I know nobody’s getting. But if it’s over your head, you as a performer have an obligation to make it so your audience can understand. Make it groove, and all is right.

What about when you get stuck?

I record what I have because I might forget it. I go back later and listen to them and see how they work. If I get stuck on something, I see if it works with another piece. Maybe it will work with something else I have. Focus on what you have to say. Don’t think so much about how you want to say it - focus on what you are saying. Sometimes people are afraid to ask the music what it wants you to play. Ask and it will tell you.

Is there such a thing as having perfect time?
Digitally, things can be corrected. Listen to what other musicians are doing. JD Toured with Shania Twain for three years and won best country drummer of the year award. Her (ex-) husband Mutt Lange is notoriously hard to work for – he will take pieces of things and paste them together for the record. The guitar player at the audition said they were turning away so many drummers, that they told limo drivers not to stop the motor – that they would not be staying. When JD came in they were running a click track. Midway through the audition, Mutt said “stop! Who turned off the click?” The engineer said no one so they started again. The same thing happened, and again the engineer said the click was working. What was happening was that JD was so tight with the click that it sounded like it wasn’t there. Vic also said he met a drummer who said he had perfect time, but he felt like the guy was holding him back.

How do you keep your mind focused?
Most of it is off the bandstand. Life is music, so I am always practicing. Speak musically. Make whatever’s happening groove. I make it groove; you’re not listening to music note for note, you are listening to the overall package. Don’t try to get every note right. If someone comes into the room, they are a part of the band – they affect things. The audience has a right to ask, they paid to be there. We need to be aware of the audience; a good audience will push you higher or a bad audience can pull you down.

What non-musical things inspire you?
You hear people play that know theory and they play that way. Emotion comes from you. Life is a story. Go out and have a life; that’s where music comes from. Everything is an inspiration. You got to figure it out. Everything that happens in life is an inspiration.

What about learning the staff and reading music?
Learn it – do it! Learning to read before you can talk doesn’t make sense. In music we learn things in reverse. One of the best things that I have found to help me learn about reading music is to write a line of music. That will help you know how to read it.

JD how much do you practice?
I don’t as much as I used to. I analyze what I hear, and put formulas to the test. When Vic is playing in 4 or 2/4 then things click by listening. Practicing goes on in your head.

Do you still eat Frosted Flakes on tour?
I am trying to improve my diet.

Vic, do you have any advice for beginning bassists?
Listen to everything then get a bass and play. Play, Play, Play. Find people or situations to play in. Practicing is OK, but playing is better. My brother Regi started me with one note – maybe a G. But then he surrounds his students with the rest of the music. You might have only that one note to play, but do that for a while and you are making music. He will teach you a note, then say “now, let’s jam.” Think about mom listening on the other side of the door; when she comes up she hears her kid making music. Making music will help you enjoy it which will help you learn it. Play more. Find a way to hear the band in your head.

What about when you are improvising?
I keep the tools - theory, scales, modes, etc – in the back seat of the car, but the groove is what I am after. You don’t need the spare tire in the front seat with you; you keep it in the trunk until you need it.

What about Rhythm theory? Tones and Space?
Any note works if it is in time, if its tone is good, if its dynamics are good. Resolve things to find a way back. I like the challenge, how to find a way back to the 1. I also like to be surprised by what I play. I don’t want to know everything that is going to happen. Most of the situations I am in I have the freedom to explore. With the Flecktones I can explore things on stage; that’s different than when you are accompanying someone and are expected to just get it solid, get it down and keep a groove.

What about scales?
The one scale that I like to practice a lot and people don’t work on is the chromatic scale. If you use every note, that’s it. Explore the weird sounding notes. Take a mistake and by what I do after it, it sounds right. Every “out” note has an “in” note right next to it. Play anything crazy and make it groove. Groove and a simple singable melody are essential. They are the things that will last.

Who inspires you?
Charlie Hunter and especially Steve Vai. I grew up listening to Steve Vai play and some of the things he does really inspire me.

How about when you switch time signatures? How do you tie them together?
I don’t really think about that, I just groove. In India they do it mathematically. Let’s say you have eight measures – 32 quarter notes. So if I play a triplet pattern -123 123 123- then I have 10 measures of three plus two in order to fill the same space as 32 quarter notes. If its four bars of 4/4 time I can play five or 6 bars and then add two and it adds up. They don’t have to be even bars. I can play in 7 and still feel the real tempo. Lots of people subdivide time; triplets (1-2-3) take the triplet pulse and count to any number you want. You don’t have to play every note.

What about space in music?
(Vic) JD and I met in Nashville and knew of one another – he went to NSU and I had heard about him. We would jam, have freedom to interplay, etc. JD was back there grooving. I think his solo was just a couple of hits. He said more by saying little. When you hear silence, you look in the direction of the silence. But then you have to give the audience something.

(JD) On space, Miles Davis was an influence. When he was doing the Be Bop stuff there was just so much sonic info. His drummer Al Foster could sit back and hold a pocket. When Miles has his band on a groove, then he can play two notes and it sounds great.

Vic, you said music is a language; when it talks to you, is it something you have heard before, is it the same?
No. I try to be open enough to hear how it’s going to speak back. You know it comes through inspiration – you feel something and then find a group of notes to say what you want to say. What I am feeling is what I play. Listening to music will sometimes inspire you. Realize you already have a voice.

You mention listening, what are you listening to and how did you find your voice?
I was the youngest of five brothers and that’s what I listened to most. My mom and dad were both musical, and my brothers all played. I listened to CCR, the Beatles, Motown, James Brown, etc. I’m a child of the 60s and so there was always something on the radio. Then I listened to jazz and the tapping – the Eddie Van Halen stuff. But it’s good to be open to all of music.

What about getting bands together?
Play with as many people as you can. Try to play with people who are better – find people at school. The opportunities are there.

How do you keep yourself level headed?
I listen to the good and the bad. If you take the compliments you have to take the criticism as well. Who I am inside is what directs me. What’s in my head? I have to ask “why did what you said hurt me?” You want to look at things honestly. When people put you on a pedestal, then to them you are that good. And keeping that role - staying on that pedestal – will help the little brother go higher rather than lowering your sights.

What about gear, do you play 5-string or only 4-string basses?
I have often said that when I lay them down, they all sound the same. The music is coming from me. When I play it comes from me. I don’t want to know the bass is there. I just want to play music. Be comfortable enough with the bass’s role. It is not just an instrument, it’s a role. Be comfortable. Learn the other things well enough.

What if you spoke another language? Would your music sound different?
Yes, but how we speak is a product of how we live. Everything outside is a product of what’s inside. People from other lands want to play like the USA. But the mix of cultures is what’s cool. When they come here, we don’t want to hear them play like us, we want what they bring to the table.

What about your Ying-Yang bass? What are the tone woods?
Fodera chose the woods. The maker chose the tone woods. I still have the original bass I played on my first album Show of Hands because I didn’t want to lose that sound. I like the sound on “Sinister Minister” and other Flecktones tracks, so I still have that, which was a mix of ebony and holly I think. This bass is different. My first bass has a maple finger board and this one has an ebony one. I still use the PJ (Precision-jazz) pickup setup. When I first got the bass that’s what it had on it. The techniques that I have developed have been developed using that setup. I use EMG pickups and I have a Mike Pope Preamp. But nothing I have is exclusive. Everything on my bass I stuff you can buy
.
JD, I notice throughout this time, you have had your eyes closed and seem to be somewhere else. Where is that place and what are you hearing?
I have found that I listen better when my eyes are closed. That way I can respond to what’s going on. (VIC) Most of us think we are on the earth, but we are often the ones from another planet. We think we are down to earth, but we are not. When you listen, you learn. Be open minded. Pay attention to sounds, feelings, and what’s going on behind you and around you. Sometimes I might hear something that I want to incorporate, like a coin dropping on the pavement might give me an idea for a new groove.

What about tension and release in a solo?
We have a sax player here in the room? The key to solos and soloing is something that people don’t practice. (Saxophonist B.J. Simmons joins Vic and JD on stage).

What about music and the animals? In your book (The Music Lesson) did you write it as fiction or was it more autobiographical?
I wrote the whole thing as fiction, but I wanted people to take something away from it. If you write your ideas as fiction, then you don’t have to defend it.

Soloing?
The most important thing is to listen to soloists. Silence helps us get inspired. As a soloist he can bring something if we give him space. If we create a hole for the soloist, he can fill it. A good rhythm section that listens can push the soloist to the front. Pay attention to the musical skills. As a listener, if you are only allowed to listen to the rhythm section, you get bored. But as soon as you get involved, we have more fun. Just like when you talk, you can create space, dynamics, so you can respond to what happened.

Can I call your name musically? Anyone who comes in the room affects the conversation, just like someone who walks up when you’re talking.

I used to know that most of the black folks at a Flecktones concert were bass players. That’s just the way it was. I saw Anthony (Wellington) in the crowd one time and so I threw something into a solo that I knew only he would understand (Cosby Slop). You can tap into things and communicate with the audience. Paying attention to the nuances and how the audiences respond is important.

What about the future of the music business?
JD’s wife works at Sony and she can tell you that new artists that don’t pull numbers immediately are gone quickly. (JD) There is a learning curve. And I am on a learning curve, using video, YouTube, all that. You go to my website and you won’t see much. You go to Vic’s and the mouse turns into drops of water, and you can buy stuff, and see concert dates and such.

(Vic) The business is slowly turning back towards people who have real talent. People like music because they like music. It seems like people are getting fed up. But now people are not buying records, they are buying songs (on iTunes or others). We get people – like one young guy came up to me and said he wanted to be his own producer. He thought that meant just putting together drum tracks or samples, and didn’t really know what a producer does. I see a show called “Making the Band” and there’s no band in it; does that mean that P-Diddy doesn’t deserve a place at the table? No, but it’s not the same thing as being a producer.

How about people who can’t recognize the difference?
Make sure there’s something to offer. Don’t get stuffy. What about real music? There has to be something to eat at the table. It’s not all image; I mean Aretha Franklin’s fat, but I’ll be the first one in line when the tickets go on sale. James Brown would perform like every gig was his last.

How about the elimination of arts and music in schools?
There been a lot of studies that prove that people involved in the arts and music do better in school than people who are not involved. But remember, things like cutting arts and music in school cannot be done unless we allow it. Whatever I hear winds up in the music somehow.

If you had to choose one bass player to listen to, who would it be?
There are a lot of good guys out there, but I think right now my favorite is Oteil Burbridge. He’s a great bass player, but it’s not his technique – which is great by the way – that gets the attention. He doesn’t come across as flashy. His sound comes across.

Did you ever have any formal training?
I had better than formal training. I grew up playing music with my brothers. I did play the cello in 6th grade and into high school, so I learned note reading and theory, and stuff like that.

What’s in your CD player?
Right now I’m hanging around with my kids a lot so what I hear is what they listen to.

What does it mean to be a great performer?
Be the person who gives the audience what they are asking for. Listen to the audience. Nothing is as important as what I am doing right now.
How did you deal with the hatred and animosity growing up?
I have to believe that the good and the bad are both true, but I had a posse – a family that encouraged me.

I have some students who are playing the 1970s music in band and they really get bored with the repetition. Do you have any recommendations?
Learn all the stuff and play it the way the stuff goes. Go home and play what you want, but when you are a good player you need to be able to play with anyone. In my groove workshop we practice for mistakes. Sometimes when we play, we play until we make a mistake and then we start over. But practice for mistakes and make them groove. Now let me ask you a question, if you could take music and condense it into one word what would it mean to you?

(The answers ranged from peace, joy, love, passion, release, contentment, communication etc).

Now I have found that people all over the world have answered the same way, but one thing they never mentioned was theory, notes, technique, methods, bass, guitar or even strings. These things are the tools, but the tool is not the music. Remember what your word is and then use the tools to get to that one-word definition. Thanks!

So that's the clinic. And you didn't even have to go!

Close enough

2009-02-25T10:01:00.005-05:00

This is my dog Snickers. He's a Schnoodle - a mixture of Schnauzer and Poodle. Technically, he's a mutt. But he's also a great dog. He loves to - as his picture illustrates - play ball in the yard. Or the house. Or up and down the stairs. He's a bundle of energy that we have to tire every day if we want to avoid playing ball all night long. Or we have to put him in his crate to get a little peace.

Lately, Snickers has taken to being more of a lap dog - he weighs almost 30 lbs, so he's a little out of the lap dog range. But he likes to sit on the loveseat with me or with my wife and watch TV.

I remember being surprised the first time he did it. He jumped up into my lap and curled up. He put his head on my shoulder, puffed out a big breath and relaxed. I was amazed. He had hever done that before. But lately he's making a habit of it.

Interestingly enough, when he's that close and I am stroking his hair (he has hair, not fur, which is great because he doesn't cover my lap with apricot fur!) I can see and feel if there is anything wrong with him. As I said, he likes to play ball, and in the back yard, the dog is absolutely fearless. He has been known to run into the rose bushes or the wood pile or even under the shed to get his ball. But his tenacity can leave him covered with dirt. Or mulch. Or thorns. Or at least leaves.

But when he's in my lap, I can see all the crud he's been into. If he's too coated with stuff, I have to brush him or clean him off before he gets in my lap. But most times, he's clean enough for couch time. But when he's there I can see all the little things that I can't see when he's playing. A scrape on one of his pads. Mud under his nails. Crud around his eyes or in his nose. All stuff that shouldn't be there, but isn't really visible until you're up close.

And I clean him up. And we snuggle. He doesn't like me getting the crud from around his eyes, but I clean him up anyway. And the unpleasant part doesn't last very long. I can also stroke his sides and feel for ticks or thorns or burrs that he might have picked up. I love my doggie, and this stuff doesn't belong on him. And we can snuggle for as long as he wants to stay there.

Isn't that like us with God? We get all messed up and covered with the crud of the world, but He loves us, and cleans us up, and wants to sit with us. We often mistake His cleaning off our crud for something vindictive, or bad, but He just wants to relieve the stuff that ultimately doesn't belong. And we can be with Him for as long as we want. And it's only in those close times that the small stuff can be plucked out of our lives. Working, playing, running around, doing life don't allow those little irritants to be removed. We're often too distracted, or don't want to be bothered.

But when we get close, He can take the thorns out of our lives and remove the dirt from our eyes and make sure we haven't been entangled with litter.

On and off

2009-02-18T08:35:00.006-05:00

I have been on Weight Watchers since December. Since then I have lost a total of 10 pounds. Doesn't sound like much, especially since I want to lose a total of about 60 lbs. It's a painfully slow process.

Weight watchers has been in business for decades. They have altered their formula and their methodology in recent years and now the latest program is called the momentum program. They even have a cute doll puppet to represent hunger in their commercials.

But the secret is no secret - eat better and exercise more. Blah.

I admit I feel better when I am thinner. I have battled weight my entire life, from the time I was five. I ate my way through my parents' failed marriage, sexual abuse, divorce, and lost jobs. I used food to help me through tough times and to celebrate good times. I don't know if I would call myself and addict, but dependent, yeah. Absolutely.

The tricky thing about food is that you have to eat. You don't eat, you die. It's managing what you eat that's the secret. Weight watchers uses what they call "points" programs, based on the calories, fat, and fiber in each meal. They also require you to journal, and the weekly meetings are sources of encouragement.

I joked at my first meeting in December that I felt like I should say "Hi, my name is David and I overeat." The program makes the point that it is not a cure-all. You can go off Weight Watchers any time, and unless you have some miracle pill to take, you will gain weight.

Some people complain about measuring foods, saying that it's not convenient. But let's get real - we all measure what we eat, even if it's to say "that's enough," as we spoon our fifth helping of Mac n cheese on our plate.

WW also helps deal with what's called "emotional eating," using food to deal with pain. That's mostly my problem. Food was something I could control, and something that made me feel good. From my brief limited studies of the brain, there is something to that. Food - especially certain kinds of food like chocolate - does make you feel better. It releases some chemicals in your brain that make you feel better.

But emotional eating always brings a load of guilt with it. Which of course starts the addictive spiral - you feel bad, so you eat, then you feel relief, but then you feel guilty for overeating, so you feel bad, so you eat. Round and round until you die of a heart attack.

My best man's death last year was a shot across the bow for me. He wasn't overweight, per se. To look at him you would say he was average. But he died at 61 of a blood clot that broke loose and went to his heart. One of the contributing factors could have been his diet. He liked to eat, and used to joke "you have to die from something." But not from this; and not now.

So in order to live, I will write down what I eat, stick to the program, go to meetings and continue the battle of the bulge. It's harder the older you get, but it is a battle I must win. My mom died at 60. My grandmother at 70. Both had high blood pressure (something I don't have, thank God). My grandmother was diabetic and my mom was overweight all of my life. So I have to do something. Again.

A helpful site for others who struggle with weight is Scientific American's webpage. Check it.

The Promise

2009-02-07T15:39:00.002-05:00

The cold broke here in Washington today. The Mall is full of people walking in the warm sunshine. Some are taking photos, some are looking at maps, there's even a pretty competitive Frisbee football game going on by the Smithsonian Castle.

The day holds the promise that the crushing cold we have been experiencing will end. We often have these thaws about this time of year. Then the most horrendous weather of the year comes - like the President's Day snowstorm that hit a few years ago and buried the region in nearly two feet of snow.

But the days are getting longer and the sun is warmer. My dog still is a hardhead. My yard still needs work. And the car needs an oil change and a good washing.

But the Promise of a new day is still there. The Spring WILL come; I just have to survive the next month or so.

Whaaaa????

2009-02-02T19:07:00.004-05:00

So what is it with these rich guys that Obama is appointing at Treasury and Health and Human Services? Do they not know that Americans pay taxes?

Tom Daschle had a car and driver and didn't pay $120,000 in taxes; Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner - the guy who would be in charge of the money - didn't pay $40,000 in taxes over a couple of years. And what does the White House say? "Nobody's perfect."

Whaaaaa? Nobody's HHS Secretary or Treasury Secretary either unless they can pass muster. And these guys have been playing fast and loose with the rules.

It was the Obama transition team that said "Hey, you might wanna pay these things." But who do these guys think they are? Saying "we won, so we can do what we want" is the height of arrogance.

I have to pay taxes; my wife pays taxes. She is self-employed and has to file a quarterly tax return. And she has an accountant double check her work, just in case.

But the TREASURY secretary didn't pay his taxes. But now he's Treasury Secretary. And Daschle will probably run HHS. But hey, let's look a little closer before we anoint these guys king, huh?

Moving Forward

2009-01-01T09:59:00.005-05:00

It's that time of year again - time for resolutions and decisions and things we want to do. Nothing wrong with that as long as we take it one step at a time, and be realistic.

This time of year many of us take stock of what we have done - or not done - in the previous 365 days. Some of us say we want to quit smoking, others - like me - want to lose weight, and others want to make changes in the job or family life. Nothing really wrong with that.

But I need to remember that I got where I am one step at a time, one day at a time, and that is how I will get out of the situation. And another important thing to remember is that the magazines at the check-out counter in the grocery store might as well have Fantasy Island written across them.

No one, no one you see on the magazine covers looks like that. Especially celebrities like Jessica Simpson, or Oprah, or Faith Hill or even the guys on the cover of Men's Health or Muscle and Fitness looks like that.

They have ALL been touched and retouched and sometimes even morphed into someone we would not recognize, by Adobe Photoshop artists. Nothing wrong with Photoshop. It's a wonderful tool; I use it myself. But it allows photographers to idealize people's images.

Even Jenny McCarthy, the former Playboy Playmate of the year, acknowledged that there is no way that she looked that way. (Ironically, Jenny became a spokesperson for WeightWatchers after she had a baby).

That is not to say that these people don't look good - they do. They just don't look like they look on the magazine covers. Weight has been my battle. Since I was five! Every year I have to wrestle the python of appetite and every year I win some and lose some. But I keep fighting because I need to control my weight to avoid more serious problems.

So the battle has been joined - again. And I will lose some weight, and I will lose some battles. I realize that calories are like gasoline - you put them in and they have to be burned or stored. No way around that. No magic bullet, no easy way out.

Even people who have had surgery have to have counseling to deal with the emotional issues that contributed to their weight gain. I am still trying to get a right attitude towards food. It's necessary to live, but it is not my comforter. And so it goes ....

Welcome Home

2008-12-25T08:42:00.007-05:00

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4-7)

Last night something uniquely wonderful happened - I got the chance to welcome someone to the Kingdom of God.

Lest you think I had anything to do with it, let me dispel any notion of my being an evangelist - at least not in this case. No, it was at the Christmas Eve service where I attend church that I got to witness this miracle.

Our pastor had preached a sermon about the Magi who searched for - and found - Jesus. Often times the Magi (or the three kings) are pictured as being at the manger in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. The Gospel of Matthew does not bear that out. Matthew writes that the Magi from the east appeared about two years after the birth of Jesus . That's why Herod the Great ordered all the boys in Bethlehem under the age of two murdered.

But that's beside the point of my story.

As I said, our pastor preached a message about the visit of the Magi and made an appeal for anyone who would like to invite Jesus to be born in them - the Bible calls it being 'born again' or 'born from above' - to raise their hand. Several people did, though my encounter was with only one of them.

At our church we give what's called a "New Believer's Toolkit" to people who have just come to faith. The kit includes a Bible, a Bible study, a notebook, a pen, and some other resources. I saw a teenager and her mother carrying one of these kits as the crowd - of about 600-700 people - made its way out of the church. I asked "did you just give your heart to the Lord?"

The young girl looked at me shyly and said "yes."

"Congratulations!" I said. "Welcome to the family of God. We are so glad that you are here. We have been waiting for you!" And I gave her a hug.

As I held this girl, I could feel her crying. I don't know her; I don't know why she was crying other than she was feeling the release of some emotion. But when I let her go, I saw her face was pink and a tear was running out of her right eye. I felt blessed to see the newness of life that I believe she was experiencing. Her mother had a great big smile on her face. Her younger brother looked like he just wanted to go home.

But I wanted to greet her and welcome her to faith. Jesus said that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents that over 99 righteous people who don't need repentance (Lk 15:4-7). The word Jesus used for joy includes the idea of rejoicing greatly, of being glad. It's the same word the angelic messenger used when he told the shepherds he brought 'good tidings of great joy'.

So I wanted to make a big deal out of someone coming to faith. I don't know why I did it. I just did. Then I went home and had an argument with my wife over something stupid - like what to have for dessert. Thank God for His grace, huh?

Up Close and Personal

2008-12-19T18:26:00.010-05:00

I got to do a report this week on Martin Schoeller's 2004 photographic portrait of President-elect Barack Obama.

The photo - which is huge by the way almost 62" tall x 50" wide - was shot in 2004 just as Mr. Obama was beginning his national political career.

It was taken with a Mamiya RZ 67 Pro II Camera using a 140 millimeter lens and was shot on film. The photo is what is called a digital C-print, which uses a special process that allows more detail and color variance that normal paper.

The photo is hanging in the National Portrait Gallery here in Washington. It is part of an exhibit called “Portraiture Now: Feature Photography." I interviewed the photographer - Martin Schoeller - as he was returning from a photo shoot of Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank on Tuesday.

The Eye is the Lamp

Schoeller told me he wanted to use film because digital has too much depth of field and gets everything in focus. He said he wanted to focus on the eyes and the mouths of his subjects, which he called the most expressive parts of the face. The Obama photo definitely draws you into the eyes.

Schoeller, a former assistant to Annie Liebowitz, told me that he shot this frame as part of an assignment for the QG Men of the Year issue in December 2004. The image is one of the 'in between' shots from that shoot - one of the moments when Mr. Obama is not realizing that he is in front of a camera.

Ironically, the image chosen for the magazine was another of Schoeller's photos - but it has Obama smiling .

"Often times he smiles," Schoeller told me, "because he has a great smile and people often put themselves into poses that they think they look good in." But the photographer said that this shot felt more natural and was a good image.

Gravitas

I attended a lecture by Anne Goodyear, one of the curators at the National Portrait Gallery. She said that she thought this image conveyed more of the strength and determination that Mr. Obama brought to the political campaign.

"We want future generations to come into contact with these traits when they come to the portrait gallery," she said. Ms. Goodyear said his determination and confidence are the traits the museum wants people to think about when they see his image.

Vince Aletti is the photography critic for the New Yorker, and he told me that Schoeller's images offer a much closer glimpse than we could get in real life. No one, not even our closest friends, get that close most of the time.

"I think Schoeller's work invites us to really kind of nudge in closer than we might normally do," he said. Aletti said that Schoeller's large format images give their subjects "a sense of nakedness in a away." He said there's nowhere to hide in a photo that large.

Covering this story was a real shot in the arm for me. I got to do some real reporting that didn't involve sweaty athletes or someone dying in a plane crash. Martin Schoeller was a joy to interview. There is something about creative people that fires my jets - it gets me out of the mundane work-a-day crud that I usually have to wade through. I look forward to more of it. I hope to do a TV report on the Tuskeegee airmen and their attempts to make it to the Inauguration.

Take the Train

2008-12-17T16:59:00.001-05:00

Virginia Railway Express - VRE - is warning riders who want to take its trains on Inauguration Day that they need to buy their tickets in advance. The special Inaugural tickets are available by mail order only. Anyone who does not have one of these tickets will not be allowed on the train.

Riders will need to pick three choices on either the Manassas or Fredericksburg Lines for January 20th.

Tickets are $25 and are round trip only. No regular tickets will be accepted. There is a whole set of regulations on VRE's website. There are no refunds regardless of the reason and you can only use the tickets for the trains you choose - no substituting and no exchanges. Don't even try to buy a ticket on the platform - they will not be for sale. Also, expect security to be high - bomb sniffing dogs and stuff like that.

Schedules

The first rain leaves Broad Run in Manassas at 5:05 am and reaches Union Station at 6:18 am. The last train from Broad Run leaves at 7:50 am and reaches Union Station at 9:05.

The last train out might put a damper on your Inaugural celebration plans - it leaves Union Station at 6:50 pm and arrives at Broad Run station at 8:03. Again the time of arrival is an estimate, because it is highly likely that all these trains will be full.

For the Fredericksburg line, the first train leaves at 5:15 am and reaches Union Station at 6:52. The last train in leaves Fredericksburg at 7:50 am and reaches Union Station at 9:19.

The last Fredericksburg train leaves Union Station at 6:40 pm and arrives in Fredericksburg at 8:08 pm. (Note: These downtown arrival times are estimates at best. Depending on how long it takes to load the respective trains at each station there could be delays. Also if there is inclement weather or if there is a mechanical problems, obviously arrivals will be later ).

When you arrive

The closest station to the Mall - to the West side of the Capitol - is L'Enfant. If you leave the platform on the 6th street side, you will see the Holiday Inn and the Federal Center in front of you and the Air and Space Museum is down 6th street to your left. Walk towards the Air and Space museum, past the Department of Education building and you will reach Maryland Avenue. Look to your right and you should see the Capitol.

Do not confuse this station with Metro's L'Enfant Plaza Station. They are not the same. VRE's L'Enfant station is between 6th and 7th streets SW and has visible railroad tracks above the street. You have to climb stairs to get to it. Metro's L'Enfant plaza is close by - Maryland Avenue and 7th street - but you have to go underground to get to it.

All VRE trains run what are called Gallery cars, which are double-decker cars. The Fredericksburg trains tend to have the newer cars, which have better seats, better lighting and better bathrooms. The Manassas Line tends to have refurbished older gallery cars, which are adequate, but have older seats, poor lighting and fewer bathrooms.

But for all the special steps necessary it is still better than trying to drive - one local radio station is reporting that the Potomac River Bridges in DC - the Roosevelt Bridge, the Memorial Bridge from Arlington Cemetery, and the 14th Street Bridge - the one that was hit by the Air Florida plane in the 1980s - will all be closed to traffic. Also several streets around or near the Mall in downtown DC are expected to be closed.

Smell like the Man

2008-12-10T12:43:00.003-05:00

There is a cologne being marketed by a group called My DNA Fragrance that purports to smell like Barack Obama's DNA. I am not making this up. The product is called POTUS 1600 Obama 08 - POTUS stands for President of the United States - and the selling point for this stuff is that it uses the subject's DNA to make the cologne.

According to their website, POTUS 1600 Obama 08 is a "clean fresh blend of citrus, green leaves and marine notes." The cutline below the name on the website says it is a limited edition, historically commemorative fragrance that highlights Hope for Men and Women.

This fragrance purports to use the buyer's specific DNA to form the basis of the cologne. You swab the inside of your cheek, send the sample in, and they use it to make a fragrance that is uniquely yours - no one else on the planet will smell like that.

My question is - how did they get Barack Obama's DNA? Did some ambitious staffer send it to them? Did they get it off a coffee cup after the California Primary (did I mention this company is in California?) Did they get his used toothbrush or something?

Anyway, it would almost be worth the $39.99 - plus shipping - to smell this stuff. Maybe it would make us all a little more hopeful. Or maybe the lightness we would feel is in our wallets from being ripped off.

Make Room for the President

2008-12-09T19:42:00.005-05:00

Destination DC, formerly the DC Convention and Tourism bureau is reporting that an additional 4,500 hotel rooms have become available for the inauguration weekend. News reports and the bureau's website say that since contracts were not finalized, the rooms were not sold and now have been put back on the open market.

They are NOT cheap - starting rates are about $650. And you WON'T find them on Travelocity or Expedia or any of the travel sites. The best bet is to call Destination DC, (800-422-8644).

Also many of the Inaugural Balls are beginning to take shape. The National Conference of State Societies has a list of some of the goings on and some of the balls that are already sold out. The NCSS blog lists some of the celebrations from January 18th to the 21st. Some of the plans include operating rush hour service - trains about every three minutes - for 15 hours on Inauguration Day.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority - which runs Metro Rail and the Metro buses - has announced some of its plans for January 20th.

Metro also plans to stay open until 2 am January 21st to allow people to get home on the trains. Parking at all Metro lots will be free for the entire weekend - including MLK Day on the 19th and Inauguration Day on the 20th.

For those who plan to take Metro to the Mall for the Inauguration the closest station to the Mall itself is Smithsonian. Unfortunately the Mall exit will be closed that day, so you will have to go to the Independence Ave. side. This puts you out at Independence and 12th st. SW. Cross Independence to get to the Mall. The Smithsonian Castle will be on your right and the Washington Monument is on the left.

Also, L'Enfant Plaza is a good place to get off, particularly since it is a transfer station for four lines - Yellow, Green, Blue, and Orange. The Yellow and Green lines come in on the top level of the station and the Blue and Orange lines come in downstairs. Make sure that you get off on the Maryland Avenue exit of L'Enfant. It takes you to - of course - Maryland Avenue. The other exits take you to D St. SW, which is the wrong direction. As you emerge from the Metro station on Maryland Avenue, you will be able to see the Capitol Building and part of the Museum of the American Indian.

If you want to continue on the Orange Line to Federal Center SW, you will need to take the escalator to the top to 3rd St. SW and turn left. The Mall is about 2 1/2 blocks down the street. You will be at the intersection of D and 3rd St. SW. There is a Starbucks Coffee and a Potbelly Sandwich Shop to the right as you come up the escalator. The Mall is to your left. As you approach Independence Ave., you should see the Capitol to your right as you pass the Department of Health and Human Services at 3rd and C St. SW. The Museum of the American Indian is the windswept looking yellowish building on the left at Independence.

Also, Metro's Red Line takes you to Union Station, the main rail station in DC. It is about three or four blocks from the Capitol depending on whether you are going straight to the Senate side or if you are going to the West Lawn. Union Station is also the terminus for the VRE, the MARC trains and Amtrak. (It is an impressive building, particularly the grand hall with stone carved warriors lining the top of the walls. It also has a food court on the bottom level as well as shops and restaurants on all levels.)

If you want to come in from the North side of the Mall, Federal Triangle would be the best Metro Station to get off the Orange and Blue lines. It is near the Reagan Building, the Old Post Office Pavilion and the FBI headquarters. It is also the closest station to Pennsylvania Avenue. The Archives Navy Memorial Station will be closed all day because it is right on Pennsylvania Avenue. The Secret Service has designated Inauguration day as a special national security event, so that station is closed for security reasons. Judiciary Square on the Red Line is another option.

Expect to see a LOT of police that day. DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier has said there will probably be an additional 4,000 officers - in addition to all of her 4,000 - working January 20th. Backpacks, strollers, thermos bottles, etc. are not allowed on the Capitol grounds - along with the obvious dangerous items like knives, guns or explosives. Expect to stand long hours in the cold. Even if the estimated 4-5 million people show up, even that much body heat might not help. The temperatures average 30 degrees in January - and it rains. However, there are exceptions to the rule - last January 8th, it was 73 degrees! More inaugural prep later. Stay safe.

Inaugration Prep

2008-12-06T19:02:00.003-05:00

The Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States is about six weeks away. Washington is getting ready, with the inaugural stage on the West Portico of the U.S. Capitol almost finished. The Capitol Christmas tree is on the West Lawn, but that will be gone as soon as the holidays are over.

Only 240,000 tickets are available to attend the actual swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol. I say only because as many as 4-5 million people are expected to travel to Washington for the inauguration and parade. The National Park Service and the Obama transition team announced this week that the entire National Mall in Washington will be open for the ceremony. That is unusual because often parts of the Mall are closed as staging areas for the parade. Giant television screens will be erected so people can watch parts of the President's swearing-in and speech.

Hotel rooms are still available for the ceremony. Friday, the Washington Tourism Bureau, Destination DC, said more than 1,000 rooms are available in the metro DC area. However, there are restrictions - including a four-day minimum stay at some hotels - and rates are from $100 - $1,000 a night.

Construction also continues near the White House, with the reviewing stand for the President and other dignitaries under construction.

If you have never been to Washington, DC before, remember that L'Enfant designed it to frustrate an invading army. It does that every rush hour for those of us who live here, so patience will be needed on Inauguration Day.

The city is served by three main public transportation lines - the Metro, the Virginia Railway Express, and the MARC trains (from Maryland). Metro is debating whether to stay open 24 hours a day for the inauguration. They do not plan to have the escalators running at the busiest stations, which means the stairways will be locked in place and you will have to walk.

VRE - which runs from outside Manassas, Virginia (to the West) and from Fredericksburg (to the South) to Union Station in Washington - plans to run on its modified "S" schedule. That means there will not be as many trains.

Both lines - Manassas and Fredericksburg - operate double-decker cars. The Fredericksburg line tends to have the more modern cars, though Manassas is catching up. Tickets vary in price based on how far from downtown you are. There are ticket machines at the stations, and they do accept credit cards, but sometimes they do not work or have difficulty reading the magnetic stripe on your card. It is best to try to get tickets ahead of time if you can.

The MARC lines operate between Perryville, Maryland (Penn Line - which goes to Penn Station in Baltimore), Martinsburg, West Virginia and Frederick, Maryland (Brunswick Line) and from Camden Station in Baltimore to Washington, but they - like the VRE - do not operate all day.

For the Inauguration, they say "Penn, Camden and Brunswick lines will operate between 5 AM and 9 AM and between 4 PM and 9 PM. MTA monthly and weekly passes, 10-trip tickets and previously purchased one-way tickets will not be accepted. All trains will be reserved and tickets must be purchased in advance. For the Penn Line, there will no service north of Penn Station."

Look for more updates on this blog as the Day draws nearer. We will try to post as much information as possible and give an everyman's view of the celebration.

Capitol Christmas

2008-12-05T23:57:00.005-05:00

Tonight was one of those cold, bracing nights in Washington that make you walk faster and hunch against the wind. I walked through Capitol Hill from the Library of Congress past the new visitor's center that opened earlier this month. It is quite impressive. It reminded me of the approaches to the Palace of Versailles in France - only in that it was a long, paved expanse that leads to an impressive building.

Venus and Jupiter were clearly visible in the Southwestern sky. They are not as close to the moon as they once appeared, but both were visible. Part of their visibility was due to the sub-freezing cold in DC. And the wind was blowing.

The Capitol Christmas tree is illuminated. It was as about as attractive as any they have had there, but the cold made me rush for my car and warmth. The inaugural preparations continue, with the stage nearly completed. There have been reports that as many as five million people are coming for the inauguration. That would fill the mall all the way to the Lincoln Memorial. Radio reports here are asking where the city plans to accommodate the tour buses that are planning to deliver thousands of tourists.

I hope for the people's sake it is not as cold then as it was today.

You have got to be kidding me.

2008-11-21T18:20:00.003-05:00

Check out the video of Alaska governor Sarah Palin at a turkey farm. She pardons one bird, but the rest are getting ready to meet God.

I especially like the way the guy in the back is killing the birds no questions asked and Palin just goes on as sunny as can be. It's a great day to be a moose-huntin, gun totin', turkey pardonin' hockey mom! Not so great if you're a turkey. You betcha!

DC Fog

2008-11-14T10:43:00.003-05:00

The fall colors are fading here in DC, and the Obama Administration is hard at work making sure that the transition to power will be as smooth as possible. Yesterday, Vice President-Elect Joe Biden and his wife met with Vice President Cheney and his wife at the Naval Observatory.

Construction continues on the West Portico of the Capitol. Workers are building the stage for the inauguration. The newspapers are filled with stories of people who live in the District charging exhorbitant fees for their apartments for Inauguration Day. There have been so many calls for tickets - which are available through Members of Congress - that some members have stopped taking requests.

Inauguration day can be a mixed bag here in DC. The weather can be rain, snow, bone chilling cold or part of the January thaw. This year it comes right before the Right to Life day, where thousands more people are expected to march to the Supreme Court to mark the anniversary of Roe v Wade.

The DC Police Department is calling in an additional 4,000 officers for the Inauguration. They are also asking for help from several other police agenices around the country.

Hotel rooms in DC that week are unavailable. Don't even try. I heard one report that people are paying more than $40,000 for a room, a ticket to the parade, and a place at one of the inaugural balls. That's crazy! But I have no doubt that people will pay more than that to get close to the new President.

I must commend the Obama transition team for its efficiency. The transition team is letting everyone know what is coming and how things will go - not how they might go - between now and January 20. Terrorism remains a main challenge, and the economy is still reeling. I can only hope that President Obama runs the country as efficiently as candidate Obama and his team ran their campaign.

My Civic Duty

2008-11-04T12:13:00.003-05:00

"I'll take the next five," the poll worker said. She was young, Asian American and was wearing a blue sweatshirt and jeans.

My wife and I had arrived at the polls at a local elementary school around 10:10 Tuesday morning. We thought that it would be better to go that time of day than earlier or later in the day. The morning rush hour would be done by then and the lunchtime rush would not have started.

Reports of long lines at polling places were posted on the local all-news radio station's Internet site, so we allowed at least 90 minutes to vote. My wife even took a book to read in case there were long lines.

It took all of 10 minutes.

There was a short line in the school. It was a diverse group - a mother with three children, one of whom was intent on playing paddleball. Her mother kept saying "stop that sweetheart, it's not appropriate." The woman's two sons were immersed in their Nintedo DS games. Another person was a Sikh man in a burgundy turban, with a black moustache with flecks of white in it. He strode into line and seemed very purposeful in his walk. Another heavy-set, pale woman wore a blue bandanna on her head. Whether it was to represent the Democratic Party blue or not I don't know. She was very pale, the kind of pallor that people undergoing chemotherapy have.

The polls themselves were in the school library. Colorful kites made to look like sailing ships, and fishes, and dragons hung from the ceiling. The room was crowded with workers and voters. A bank of computers for the school children divided the room. On the floor in blue tape was the word "VOTE" with an arrow made from the same tape on the carpet. A blue line separated those waiting to vote from those voting. A sign next to the door said "Positive Attitudes Only Beyond This Point."

The registrar sat just inside the door. A volunteer directed us to the first station. In Virginia we have to use our driver's license and the poll workers matched me to my name in the registration.

"Okay, thank you, now step over there," she said. She handed me a yellow card that said "Voter" on it. I handed that to another woman at another table who took the yellow card, inserted a plastic card with a computer chip into a reader, and typed some numbers on a computer. She handed me the computer card and said to step over to another line. In less than one minute, a man said "right here sir," as he directed me to the electronic voting machine.

The act of voting was simple. No hanging chads, no marks to make. It wasn't as complicated as withdrawing cash from an automated teller machine.

"Does this machine give you a receipt of your vote?" I asked the poll worker.

"No, just put the card in the yellow slot and make sure you push it all the way in. It will show you how you voted before you leave," he answered. I put the card in the yellow slot marked "VOTE" in black letters. The screen came up with all the candidates for President, Vice President, Senator (in Virginia we are electing a senator to replace the retiring John Warner) and Representative. I made my choices, hit a button that said "Next" on the screen, and the machine showed me my choices. I looked them over and hit the Next button again. The screen then said "PLEASE WAIT WHILE YOUR VOTE IS REGISTERED."

It took just a few seconds and it was over.

The magnetic card ejected from the machine, I handed it to a poll worker who placed it in a small plastic basket and gave me a sticker that said "I voted."
And that was it.

After more than two years of campaigning, interminable calls and e-mails from both Democrats and Republicans, discussions at work about who would be the nominee(s) and all the wrangling. After Interstate 66 was jammed for miles the night before the election as people crowded to my local fairgrounds by the thousands to see Barack Obama; after an election day call from John McCain's campaign urging people to get out and vote, it was over.

My wife immigrated to the United States from Germany and became a naturalized citizen in 1988. Her first election was Bill Clinton against George H.W. Bush in 1992. She has voted in every election since. She told me that not being able to vote made getting the right to vote that much more important, because she has a say in how the country goes. Now we both wait to see if doing our civic duty has made a difference.

A certain man ....

2008-10-31T14:03:00.003-04:00

This is the video of a woman in Texas who bought another woman's house at auction and then turned around and told her she could have it back. The first owner - Tracy - lost the home to foreclosure when she lost her job at the Postal Service. The woman who bought the house - Marilyn - said she did it "just because people need help."

Nice example Marilyn!

Does Anyone Really Care??????

2008-10-02T22:13:00.004-04:00

I'm watching the VP candidates debate. Sarah Palin looks better, she has a better media presence, but is she smarter? Does anyone really care that these two people are a heartbeat away from the presidency?

Palin is younger, Biden is more experienced. Can someone please teach the Republicans that the word is NU-CLEE-ur not NU-KYOO-lar. I mean for goodness sake, the word is spelled N-U-C-L-E-A-R. There is only ONE U in the word!

That being said, I don't seem to think that anyone has the whole pie. They all seem to have a slice, but no one seems to have the whole thing. I would like to see the two VP candidates say more about what THEY would do, instead of what the lead office - Obama or McCain - would do. I mean, we're trying to determine what THEY would do. Let's say that McCain has a heart attack and Palin is it. What would she be like as president? What if Obama gets sick and can't complete the office of president? What would Biden be like as the MAN? Come on, let's see more of them.

Did Biden almost cry when talking about being a parent who understands with a child who might not make it? I mean he does know, his son was gravely injured and almost didn't live. And Palin has a special needs child. That's a huge challenge in itself. But I think when I step into the inner sanctum of the voting booth in a month, unless someone brings more to the table, I will have a hard time voting for either one of them.

It was seven years ago today...

2008-09-11T16:26:00.002-04:00

Like many people I mark this day as one of reflection. Seven years ago the biggest news story - until around 8:30 in the morning eastern time - was Chandra Levy. She was an intern for a California congressman and she had turned up missing. With the hubub of the Clinton administration and interns, the reporters were wondering where Chandra was and what had happened to her.

That all changed one Tuesday morning in September.

I remember I was at my desk in the newsroom and one of the engineers shouted from our audio intake center "hey, turn on CNN, something just hit the World Trade Center."

We all tuned in and were watching when the second plane hit the second tower. We stayed glued to the televisions for the next few days.

I remember how quiet Washington was that afternoon. I had to walk to Union Station to catch the train to Alexandria, where I would catch another train to my home. But walking across the Mall in DC, there was no murmur of traffic. Only silence. I remember the wind was blowing a little bit from the Southwest, because pieces of paper skittled across the Mall as I walked. But it was so quiet.

It would remain quiet for the next few days. The FAA grounded all air travel to make sure there weren't any more terrorist attacks. My home is near Dulles airport, so planes passing overhead was something that we got used to. Sometimes I joke that I should paint a big arrow on my house with the word "Airport" above it.

But not on that Tuesday. Silence. Only the wind, and the leaves beginning to fall, and the bewildered look of people who had lived through a very long day.

The White House sent out a press release today outlining the Bush Administration's accomplishments since September 11, 2001. The development of the Dept of Homeland Security, the reauthorization of the FISA, the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

But the capture of Osama Bin Laden was not on there. The bad guys are still around. And even if they aren't they have disciples more than willing to carry on their evil schemes.

And they are evil. Osama Bin Laden was quoted in an interview with a Pakistani reporter shortly after the war in Afghanistan started seven years ago. He said "the bombs may fall and we may be killed, but it does not matter. We love death. In the U.S. they love life. That is the major difference between us."

If that doesn't cause you to wake up, I don't know what it will take.

So when I vote this year - and I will vote - I will remember this day and that Tuesday seven years ago. Who has done the most and who has done the least to change the target painted on our country. I'm not sure I will be able to vote for either candidate.

My Best Man

2008-08-06T16:28:00.002-04:00

Here's a video tribute someone did about my friend JR. It brings tears to my eyes to hear his voice again, but it's bittersweet. I am truly blessed and loved to have had this man as my friend.

Olympic madness

2008-08-06T14:47:00.006-04:00

The Olympics start this week in Beijing, China. I am SO glad that I did not go. The photos of the air over there shoudl give us pause. Like this one by Kevin Dooley. That's not fog - it's smoke. SMOKE.

The Chinese Olympic organizers have instituted a policy to cut down on the crud in the air, but it might be too little, too late. The Chinese government has an even-odd license plate policy to reduce the number of cars on the road. China has also shut down or temporarily closed some of the factories that belch the toxic mess into the air.

The air is so bad, that there has been talk of issuing MASKS to competitors so they won't ruin themselves by competing in the toxic soup. Christine Brennan of USA today said today that it was "pea soup" out there. It had been clear the past two days, but not today.

The IOC, because they want their party to go well, has said that the air quality should pose "no significant risk" to competitors. But some American track cyclists arrived there wearing face masks, something they later had to apologize for.

For my part, I will be writing about the Olympics from here - DC. I have no plans to go to Beijing any time soon, especially not to work 16-18 hours a day for three weeks. Nah, that's not what I call fun.

But I look forward to the competition. I hope Michael Phelps can win his 8 gold medals. It's a Herculean task, but he could do it. Whether the Chinese or the USA or Russia will top the medals table is not really of importance to me. I hope to see a good competition. I do want Americans to win, but I know we can't win everything.

Reflections

2008-07-15T01:30:00.004-04:00

I haven't posted in a month.

It's been that long since my friend J.R. died.

I miss him.

I miss being able to call him on the phone and talk for hours; I miss getting together for coffee or breakfast. Everywhere I look around me I see reminders of him. Even writing this post, I see a small mixer board next to my computer that I was going to use to do a podcast with him. We never did it. We wanted to, but somehow "life" crowded it out.

I haven't been overwhelmed with the waves of sadness like I was at first. I served as an usher at his funeral last month. My prayer that day was "God, get me through this day." He did. It wasn't easy, but we got through it.

The World Keeps Turning

I stopped by to see J.R.'s widow Candee a couple of weeks ago. I dropped in unannounced, but she seemed glad to see me. She is not the kind to ask for help much. But I hope she will take it from those of us who loved her husband so.

This month has been like being on the end of a whip held by some invisible hand. I can't act as presumptuously as I did before; life is too fragile to me now. I find myself thinking that if a good man like J.R. can die young, what about the rest of us who aren't as shining an example of following Christ? David says in the Psalms that "all my days were written in your book before ever one of them was." But none of us has read that book. We only see the pages as they turn.

I didn't think fear would be part of this process. Fear of bad things happening, things out of my control. I find myself wanting to hold my wife tighter now; sometimes I feel scared to let go of her. I want to get more richness out of life because it could be over so soon. I also went back to therapy.

Victory in Jesus?

Sometimes I hear people talk about how triumphant they are in Jesus, how they have the victory in everything, how they can do "all things through Christ who strengthens me!" I'm not sure they're reading that verse right; Paul was talking about how he could handle all the horrible things that happened to him as well as the good things through Christ. Right now I just feel shattered, like someone who survived a plane crash or a car wreck.

I find myself wondering about people I read about or hear about on the news, people who were killed in car wrecks, in the war in Afghanistan, in storms or floods or earthquakes. Do their relatives feel the overwhelming sadness I felt? How are they living? What do they do to cope with the pain of loss?

What on Earth am I here for?

I also find myself asking whether what I am doing is what I am supposed to be doing. Is the work I am doing what God wants me to do or am I just occupying space? I read an article about five signs of a lousy job on MSN's careers page and I have four and a half of the five at my work. Kind of made me wonder.

I've had that thought too, since J.R.'s death. Many people try to console themselves by saying he 'died doing what he loved.' I even said that. But what if tragedy befell me? Would they say that about me or would they say "He died doing what he had to do." What an awful thing to have written or said about you. There's no life in that, no love, no joy, no peace, no kindness. Only neccessity. And for what? For money? For the praise of others? Because I don't know how to do anything else? I know there is more. I have to find that life that my friend talked so much about. The abundant life he always pointed to. That's what I need more than anything.

There is a friend....

2008-06-15T08:06:00.009-04:00

that sticks closer than a brother. I have lost such a friend this weekend. He was my best man, he was my best friend, and I don't know how to think of the world without him in it.

A new friend

J.R. Davison and I first met when I was one of his clients at Grace Ministries in Manassas, Virginia. He had a gentleness of soul and a kindness that I have found in very few people. Most of all he was always pointing me to Jesus as the answer to all of life's problems.

He was the kind of friend you could call at 3 in the morning and he would be there. Now he's not here any more. J.R. died over the weekend from a massive heart attack while doing what he loved to do - talking with men about Jesus.

Ordination

J.R. - an ordained minister, though he held the titles that go with that lightly - was instrumental in starting the Northern Virginia Tres Dias Community. He attended Reston Bible Church, and was a friend to everyone who knew him. When my wife and I sang at his ordination, I joked "am I going to have to call you the Reverend Davison now?" In his typical style, he smiled and said, "no, I just want to be called your friend."

Last good byes

The last time I saw J.R. was at Fairfax Hospital. My wife and I had just suffered a miscarriage, and I called him to talk to him. In his typical style, he talked to me at length in a gentle and reassuring way. Then later he called me back to say he would be there when my wife had surgery.

And he was. He was there. I cried on his shoulder and he sat with me for hours while my wife was in surgery. He later went into the recovery room with me and talked to her. He was an extraordinary man. When talking about the whole thing later, as we cried, I told my wife "Jesus knew whom to send, honey. He sent J.R."

I write this through tears because I can hardly believe it. The experts say the first stage of grief is denial, and I'm in it. I can hardly believe that it's true. I knew this day would come some day. I just didn't think it would be today.

Semper Fidelis

J.R. was a former Marine. He served as a forward observer in Vietnam, and said his job involved strapping on a 12 foot antenna that said "shoot me." But he survived.

I thank God that he did. I would never have known him as a friend. My life has been enriched because of him. He was a priceless friend in every sense of the word. I will miss him terribly.

I know J.R. would smile - that smile that always seemed to say "it's good to see you," and you knew he meant it - and say "why are you making such a big deal? I'm where I have always wanted to be. I see now the source of my life, and I celebrate His grace." I guess I should envy J.R. more than cry for him. But the world is a poorer place without him.

Dust on the balance

2008-05-22T13:10:00.002-04:00

It is amazing how small many of the things we think are so important become when tragedy strikes. Like the flooding in our neighborhood.

One family had survived previous floods, including one from Hurricane Agnes in the 1970s that washed most of the neighborhood away. Another family decided to declare a total loss on their property - ironically they had just finished improving it so they could apply for a home loan in order to add another story so the part that flooded this month would be the basement. Now it's a loss.

There are things beyond our control - floods, rain, storms. Sometimes I wonder if we contribute to these disasters - through cutting down forests in order to build townhouses or apartments. That lets the water run off into the rivers and creeks where it has nowhere to go.

Or like cutting the mangroves that helped prevent some of the violent shifts that contribute to hurricane damage.

I was struck this week by two things (1) gasoline is getting way out of hand - even though we burn it like we will never run out; and (2) we have a lot to be thankful for.

The first point was driven home by rush hour. Car after car after SUV after truck lined up for miles. Every day for at least 8 hours a day. Don't ask why gas is so expensive - look around. That's why. I started taking the train to compensate. I might even start to ride my bike again.

The second point was driven home when I came home to my wife and dogs and they were healthy and happy and glad to see me. That made the commute worth it. They are why I do what I do. Whether I can figure out the latest tune on the Gospel charts or not is not really all that important. The people I love and the life we share are precious, even if I sometimes forget that.

The rain damage

2008-05-14T08:09:00.004-04:00

My neighbors are in the process of cleaning up from this week's flooding. One person has decided to call it a total loss and deal with FEMA (God help them). Another person has the Boy Scouts coming in to help her family clean up. She and her husband are both almost 80 and their home is the log cabin in the photo with the fire department standing on the banks trying to decide what to do. I don't know what's happening with Mr. Sun and his family.

The news trucks are gone now and the local radio station still has some photos of the damage in the area. In Dale City, a huge chunk of one of the main thoroughfares gave way in a sinkhole. Other folks had subsidence and lost pieces of their homes. There was even a tornado in one county, though we never saw that kind of wind here.

The sun is out today and it's a glorious morning. Yesterday was beautiful, too, with crystal clear skies, and temperatures around 65 degrees. My wife and I walked the dogs around the neighborhood and could see the residue of the flooding. One family's fence had a water mark about three fee high on it while others had debris from who knows where in their yards.

The thought that struck me is how long recovery is going to take - way after the story is out of the news. People have to pick up their lives and try to rebuild, or decide to move away, or try to clean up. The insurance companies are sure to be their normal "helpful" selves - lining their pockets on the suffering of others. But the damage and the shock will still be the same. But one thing is for sure - it will never be the same. And more rain is predicted.

You're Welcome

2008-05-13T22:24:00.002-04:00

So the folks who I used to go to church with deleted me as a contributor to their missions blog. Didn't bother to ask me not to post, didn't call to tell me they were going to. They just deleted me so I can no longer post on Dashboard.

Nice, huh?

The thing that's really kind of small is I built their missions blog. Did all the links and maintained it while I was going to church there.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised - nobody bothered to comment about any of the postings.But I don't go to church there any more. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Flood photos

2008-05-12T15:08:00.005-04:00

The Manassas Park and Yorkshire fire departments try to decide how to rescue someone trapped in a house across the lake that Lake Drive became.

One neighbor who probably lost everything in the flood of Bull Run Creek. His house is right next to the culvert.

Ironically this boat was on a trailer when the floods came, so it could not be moved out of the danger zone.

Here we go again....

2008-05-12T14:16:00.005-04:00

This is my neighbor Sun Kyun. He is from Vietnam and his house just got flooded. It sits next to what used to be the lake of Lake Drive in Manassas. But now the Lake is in his basement. The sad thing is he has transformed this house. I have seen him and his son out in the yard working diligently to clean the lot, and change the basement and the sun room and spruce up the driveway.

Now he has no power, his freezer (in the basement) is full of water so his food is rotten. And he's not even got the worst of it yet. His neighbor across the street has water up the mid level of his windows. Two years ago when a similar heavy rain flooded the neighborhood, my wife and I bought flood insurance because of something similar. But I don't think Mr. Sun and his family have it. I know one thing they don't have - electric power. The NOVEC representative came and took the meter off their house to keep someone from being electrocuted. But it left them with no power.

They have cell phones and Mr. Sun's granddaughter said they can call relatives, but his son said they have no family except the one that lives in the now flooded house. I am sure theirs is just one of many such stories here in Northern Virginia. But theirs is the closest ones I know. The house is - or was - beautiful inside - hardwood floors, tile in the kitchen, the dining room overlooks the lake - except now the lake has covered the stairs. The hardwood stairs in this immaculate little home. The Red Cross or the County will not allow them to stay there - probably won't allow them because the basement is full of stinky brown water. I don't know what will become of them, but I hope to be a friend to them. It sure puts alot of the crap that I have been worried about in stark perspective.

The least of these ...

2008-05-07T14:44:00.003-04:00

Like many of us who watch the news, I am taken aback by the rising death toll in Myanmar (Burma) from a cyclone there this week. The latest reports I have seen say the toll could rise above 100,000. The UN says that as many as 1 million people are homeless after the storm. The ruling military junta in Burma has even asked for help, something they rarely do.

The questions we have to ask ourselves include:

Why didn't people get the warnings? (State run media did not issure them. First Lady Laura Bush said this week that people did not even know the storm was coming unless they listened to Radio Free Asia or Voice of America).

What is the Burmese government doing to help? From what I can tell, not a whole lot. The military government does not allow very many outside organizations into the country and so aid is slow in getting there.

What should be done? I think the answer to that is obvious, unless you're dead spiritually. The photos of the devastation and the body count are enough to appeal to the hearts of even the coldest person. We cannot afford to NIMBY this one. These people are desperate.

What can be done? Plenty. The easiest thing to do is give money. There is a plethora of aid agencies that need the money. The most important thing to do is pray, pray that the aid gets to the people that need it instead of being hoarded by evil men. Pray that disease and drought and famine don't kill more people than the storm. Write to your Congressman or Senator(s) and ask for the U.S. government to help with aid. The First Lady is calling for help in caring for those devastated by this storm.

The thought would be easy "why should I help them; nobody helped us with Katrina, and there are still people homeless in New Orleans. Can't we take care of our own first?"

Legitimate point. There are deep needs in the USA as well. But we have very few places that are as desperate as the situation now in Burma. Let us - once again - be the ones with open hearts and open hands to help those in need.

If you would like to give here are just a few agencies:

World Vision

Tearfund

Christian Aid

Catholic Relief Services

World Food Program

1,2,3 ... you're dead

2008-04-25T16:10:00.004-04:00

Count to three. I'm not joking; count to three. You know: "1, 2, 3"? In the time that it took you to do that, people died. Of curable diseases, of hunger, of AIDS, of poverty.

I am not making this up.

According to Tearfund:

"Currently, 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation and 1.1 billion people lack safe water. As a result 2.2 million children aged less than five die from diarrhoeal diseases each year. Women and children in poorer countries spend hours each day collecting and carrying water. The weight of water carried can be more than 25 kilograms."

So let's do the math. Just from lack of clean water: Two-point-two million divided by 365 days a year = 6,027 a day. Okay then divide that number by 24 for how many each hour (251). Then divide that by 60 for how man each minute (4). And that's just from a lack of water. That's not counting a lack of food or from disease.

That also doesn't count those killed in war, those who die from disasters, those who are killed in accidents, or those who take their own lives. That's just the folks who died each minute because they didn't have clean water to drink.

There has been a lot of press recently about the world food crisis. Most of us in the USA would probably not notice except if we tried to buy rice at Costco. But there is a real crisis out there. Some of it is out of our control - storms, El Nino, La Nina, earthquakes, droughts, etc.It even made the cover of Time Magazine.

But some of it - most of it - is under our control, or at least we can do something about it.

Currently, nearly one-half the world's population - 2.8 billion people - live on less than two dollars a day. Two dollars! I spent that on soda and pretzels; these people live on it. Another 800 million people go hungry every day!

Anyone want to go to McDonalds?

We worry about not being able to defend ourselves from terrorists (to the tune of 481 billion dollars this fiscal year to the Defense Department). We need to be more concerned about things much more basic - like the world starving outside our doors.

The debate about the rain forest and growing corn for fuel and the need for control on global warming is legitimate, but it skirts the real issue. The real problem is greed - a large part of the so-called crisis is caused by speculators hording food to drive the price up.

Trade liberalization policies - where the rich countries force the poor ones to open their markets to products from the developed world in order to receive aid from the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund - have decimated the subsidies that poor farmers got to help stabilize the prices for their products

As a result, the poorer countries are now dependent on imports rather than home grown. Which of course means farmers in the developing world can't sell their products at competitive prices because the imports are cheaper because they are more abundant. So people don't farm. So they might as well blow themselves up - but that's a few steps down the road.

The poor also suffer from climate change. They are the ones who have the least ability to cope with nasty weather, cyclones, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, drought, or disease. The hundreds of thousands who perished in 2004 stand witness to the devastation that is "normal" for most people. They live in shacks or in poorly built houses, so when disaster strikes, they have no recourse. Disease follows - including cholera, typhoid, tetanus, and any number of other diseases.

And we wonder why the rest of the world seems to be turning anti-American? Maybe if we lived up to the motto of caring for the "tired, poor, hungry, teeming masses yearning to be free."

But we are often more worried about who won on American Idol.

I says this to my self as much as to anyone. A long time ago someone said to me "you are not responsible for what you do, you are responsible for what you KNOW." Jesus made a similar point. If you want the pants scared off you, read Matthew 25 about the sheep and the goats. The sheep were the ones who responded with the love of Christ to the poor, the naked, the hungry, the lonely, the stranger, and the prisoner. Jesus said "as much as you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me." The goats got the same answer - but a much different result. Jesus called them cursed and said they were to go to the "eternal fire reserved for the devil and his angels."

So I guess who we really serve - what we really believe in - shows in our actions, not just our words.

Nope, sorry you can't come in

2008-04-22T17:27:00.005-04:00

I have some friends who live in England but are running afoul of the visa requirements to come to the United States. They are part of a missionary group that comes to the USA for the National Day of Prayer and they are basically itinerant preachers.

But the State Department says they can't enter the country. I don't know all the particulars, but apparently two of the five team members are not getting visas to get in.

I did some research on the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security web sites. I even checked with my congressman's office. Apparently the U.S. branch of this ministry (of which I am a member) would have to file a form with the Immigration and Customs and Border Protection department.

Come to find out that this form - of course - had to be filed months ago. The team in England is appealing to the U.S. Ambassador, but he is likely to say that rules are rules. Who knows?

Apparently the R-1 visas they are seeking - for religious workers - have been abused by people who wanted to come here illegally. People would say they are priests, nuns, religious workers, etc., and then of course would disappear. The must have felt "called" to stay in the USA illegally and make money. Who knows. Maybe some of them are plotting to kill our people and blow up more buildings. It wouldn't be the first time.

But the State Department says that basically its guy on site has the final say. If you are out under section 214 (B), you are out until you can prove otherwise. And of course, the team of missionaries is supposed to arrive here in the United States next Monday. Whether they will come or whether they will have to cancel (like they did last year) remains to be seen.

When I look at this situation, I sometimes feel like quoting Lawrence Fishburne in The Matrix: "Welcome to the REAL world." I hope that doesn't mean I am being faithless. God is obviously greater than the State Department. But this might fall under Romans 13 where it says the officer is God's messenger and "bears not the sword in vain." Rules are rules. We might not like it, but in this situation, if every "i" is not dotted and every "t" not crossed then the missionaries might be 214(b)'d out of a trip. And they already have bookings in several churches up and down the East Coast.

Biggest Loser?

2008-04-16T12:52:00.002-04:00

Before you get too inspired by the winner of the biggest loser - you know the woman who lost 112 pounds or nearly half her body weight - remember this: she was working out 8-10 hours a day towards the end of her program.

WHAT!?

Who has 8-10 hours a day to devote to exercise? No wonder you lose weight, your'e too tired to eat! And think of this, the guys who were in The 300 did their workouts six hours a day for six months. That's 2-4 hours less a day than this woman.

Can anybody stay fat working out 8-10 hours a day? I don't think so. But Jillian (her trainer) can point to this season as an advertising blitz and say "see, I can make you literally half as big as you are."

But c'mon. How about exercise for the REAL world, where most of us spend most of our time sitting on our butts at computers, in cars, or in front of the television.

Nature's first green is gold ....

2008-04-15T08:20:00.005-04:00

and I'm sneezing my head off.

It's that time of year, time to get out all the garden implements and start hacking away at the wilderness to try to tame it for another few months.

The cold is (almost) over and the new life has begun springing up all over the yard. Including dandelions, clover, and other undesirables. And the rats might have come out of hibernation - under my house. Last Tuesday was set traps day. Get under the crawl space with lethal, spring-loaded monsters and peanut butter. Then listen for the snap - or wait for the smell as summer comes along.

And it's time to order ant bait for the traps outside. At almost $100 for a gallon of Uncle Albert's Ant Bait, it's almost as a expensive as filling up my car.

Yesterday was the first mowing of the season. Time to roll out the Honda-powered mower with the bag on the back and go at it over my 1/3 of an acre. It wasn't too bad, but it reminded me that less grass is better than more.

And I'll be 46 in two weeks. Not that that will matter to the weeds, and the dandelions and the bugs and the rodents and my neighbor's rabbit that isn't supposed to be running loose in the neighborhood.

The Final Four was enjoyable, although it was work, not a pleasure trip. My editor's one comment? "Would have been nice if you had sent back photos of the celebration." Nice, huh? Except I was busy doing RADIO what they sent me there for.

The counselor at work told me that if I am looking for affirmation from my bosses, I am looking for the wrong thing from the wrong place. My bosses could give a damn as long as their fiefdoms remain safe and no one causes them to be uncomfortable.

So I will get back to the yard, now. There are still bushes to trim, beds to rake, plants to re-pot or dig holes for. And sneezes to sneeze, coughs to cough, and pills to take.

Two Faces of College Hoops

2008-04-08T00:51:00.006-04:00

These women represent two faces of the college basketball final tonight in San Antonio. This lady is a Kansas fan, cheering her winning Jayhawks and coach Bill Self.

This woman is a Memphis fan. The Tigers came closer than any team I have seen in years. But Kansas was too much, too tough.

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

2008-04-08T00:37:00.006-04:00

Rock Chalk Jayhawk Y'all.

Kansas has beaten Memphis, 75-68, to win the men's basketball championship for the first time in 20 years.

The game was electric, coming down to an overtime win. Kansas was down by nine with about two minutes left to play and then Mario Chalmers hits a monster three with less than two seconds left.

Memphis wasn't able to answer in overtime, and Bill Self and Kansas took the title. This is the first time Kansas has won the title since before Roy Williams was the coach - 1988.

It was a GREAT game. The largest lead the whole game was nine points. By Memphis. It was like standing in the midst of a hurricane when Chalmers hit that shot. Magnificent!

OT!

2008-04-07T23:41:00.001-04:00

We're going to OVERTIME!

Mario Chalmers of Kansas hits the three with less than two seconds left and the game goes to an extra five minutes!!!!!

The joint is rocking. The building is literally moving. It's electric and like standing in the middle of a tornado.

Hall of Famers

2008-04-07T22:12:00.003-04:00

Dickey V - Dick Vitale, Pat Riley, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon et al inductees to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

In addition to the above mentioned heroes of the game, Adrian Dantley, Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson and Immaculata University women's coach Cathy Rush will also be inducted into the Naismith Memorial National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

There was a lot of greatness there. Lots of points scored. Lots of hoop dreams. Kansas leads the game at halftime, 33-28.

Ohh rah

2008-04-07T21:54:00.006-04:00

The joint is going nuts. Right now it's a see saw game with the teams tied at 26.

Kansas just took a two point lead on a huge jam by Kaun. Memphis answered with a two-pointer from Chris Douglas-Roberts. Both teams are running it as hard as they can. Memphis looks like the bigger team. Tied at 28 with 4:09 left.

Taggert, Anderson, Douglas Roberts - who throws up a brick and Kansas ball. Wee hah. Time out on the floor - no doubt to sell you cars or chips or insurance or something. None of that here - except you can't take a cup into the building without Dasani written on it.

Game On

2008-04-07T21:32:00.004-04:00

San Antonio, Texas, 15:36 in 1st half. Memphis 9, KU 5. Crowd is yelling "Go Jayhawks" at least the Kansas fans. The KU band is playing the team's fight song and the KU fans are clapping along. Thousands of pairs of hands clapping in rhythm to the song. You cannot understand the words except "Go" and "KU". The horn has sounded for play to resume and Memphis is looking tough.

Kansas just tied the game at 9-9 and the crowd is loudly cheering. To my right are the KU fans. The folks behind me and to my left are a mixture. The Memphis folks are mostly on the same side I am.

A'int nothing like being there

2008-04-07T20:59:00.004-04:00

You might have seen an NCAA final on TV. It's not the same. Not even close to what it's like to be here.

First off the building is a football stadium. The court is set in what would be one of the end zones with huge bleachers on what would be the 10-15 yard line. The building is full to the rafters - even the upper deck on the sides to the opposite end - except of course for those seats behind the massive bleachers. But the farthest seats are going for something like $50 face value. Yeah, try to get that on the street.

The building echoes. It's like someone turned the volume up on your TV real loud and left it there. No recourse from the noise. And when someone scores, it sounds like a jet engine is blasting next to your ear. Especially on a dramatic play like an alley-oop dunk.

People are wearing all manner of regalia. The Memphis fans have on blue beads that illuminate - like a flashlight. They are sparkling all over the building. Guys are dressed in suits and ties, too. Everyone wants to be Pat Riley, huh?

The music from the bands is thunderous as well, made even more so by the size of the building. There's security everywhere and the atmosphere is like something great is about to happen.

Which it is.

Stay tuned.

Courtside seat

2008-04-07T20:45:00.003-04:00

8:43 pm EDT Monday April 7 2008, San Antonio, Texas

Surprise, Surprise. Court side at the NCAA men's basketball championship game. We're about 30 minutes from tipoff between Memphis and Kansas and the Jayhawks have just taken the court for warm ups. It sounds like there are more Kansas fans in the Alamodome than Memphis fans. The Jayhawks are trying to win the title for the first time since 1988. Memphis has never won the men's championship.

Jesse Jackson is here. I saw him on the front row as I was coming back from the men's room. He talked to the Memphis team earlier this year (according to coach John Calipari). The Rev. Jackson was in Memphis for something else and Coach Calipari asked him to talk to the players about the Civil Rights struggle, MLK, and the press. Apparently it had quite an effect on the Tigers.

I finally broke down and bought a wireless contract for today. $16.50 of the taxpayers dollars for me to do my job. I will have to redo my authorization, but so what. How much would it cost for me to spend the time it would have taken to go across the street to file?

Anyway, my seat is way better than Saturday night. I'm right behind the players towards the KU band. Cool. I have a direct view of the rim near the KU cheerleaders. Not a bad gig if you can get it.

Pony Express anyone?

2008-04-07T13:30:00.002-04:00

There are so many people trying to use the INternet in my hotel that the server cannot handle it and crashed. Great. Now how am I going to file? I guess teh same way I am typing this - FROM ANOTHER HOTEL!

The folks at the Alamodome charge for wireless access, and the bosses in DC don't want to spend too much on "a sports event" so I have to find ways to get the job done on the cheap. Like this portal. $6.00 for 20 minutes, which works enough to get the job done.

I understand the wireless network is up and running in my hotel, so what I will have to do is cover tonight's game, get everything written and produced, and then go down to the lobby with my laptop to file using wireless. It's not as fast as the ethernet cable, but it should work. Let's hope so. The American people sent me here to send stuff back.

Otherwise I will do what I did this morning - trot across the street to the Mariott and file from there. Jump driver madness.

I hope it's a good game. I'm picking Memphis. They look so much stronger and BIGGER than Kansas. But Bill Self might have the boys ready. It's been 20 years since KU won the title. But Memphis has never won it.

A little less conversation and a lot more action. Got my boarding pass printed already. Laundry day now.

NCAA Shotz

2008-04-06T11:34:00.009-04:00

Here's some photos from the NCAA,

The first is Big Jay, the Kansas mascot. Don't know who's in the suit, but they were working the whole game.

Next some fans celebrate their Jayhawks' win over North Carolina.

Finally here's some Memphis fans cheering the Tigers at the Alamodome Saturday.

Hoop Dreams

2008-04-06T02:05:00.003-04:00

Kansas basketball fans - including Abbey Stockstill and Adam Harley in this photo - had plenty to cheer about tonight in San Antonio. The Jayhawks gave North Carolina a whooping like they have not had all year. Though the final score was an 18 point difference 84-66 the game was nothing like that.

Kansas blew out of the blocks and never looked back. The Jayhawks led by as many as 28 points and though Carolina put on a strong comeback - they got to within four points - it was not enough.

Sad for Carolina fans, but exciting for fans of basketball. The game was a see-saw contest and Kansas seemed to shut down in the second half until late. But they revived in time to win and move on the the finals against Memphis.

The Tigers looked really good against UCLA. They had the joint rocking. Monday night's game is going to be a great one - unless you're from UCLA or UNC. They're probably booking their flights home right now.

River Walking

2008-04-05T10:54:00.002-04:00

I ate dinner last night at the Original Mexican Restaurant on the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio. What a crowded, noisy, place. Turns out it was right below the Coyote Ugly bar on the Riverwalk.

The Riverwalk is cool, but not when you have 100,000 noisy basketball fans in it at the same time. Okay so maybe there weren't that many. But there were a lot of folks. And it took a LONNNNNNNG time to get my food.

The waiter forgot my chips and salsa, left me sitting there - by the door I might add - and left my beer empty. When the food final did get there, it was luke warm. So won't be eating there again.

Granted, it was crowded and the crowd was so loud that you couldn't hear your table announced over the PA system. So I cut the kid some slack - I did give him a tip, but not 15% by any means.

Electric atmosphere

2008-04-04T20:12:00.002-04:00

I made it to the final practice for North Carolina before the semifinal game against Kansas today. The game promises to be a great one, and I really can't wait.

I talked to one guy from Galax, North Carolina, who along with his two sons and his brother drover 23 hours to get to San Antonio to see the game. Now that's a fan. Turns out this guy is a probation officer and graduate from UNC in 1983, the year after Carolina won the national title with Michael Jordan, James Worthy, and Sam Perkins.

There were about 5,000 people watching the practice. There was also a huge media contingent through which and with which I will have to wade into the game tomorrow. The Alamodome is sure to be rocking. I look forward to it.

San Antonio Final Four

2008-04-04T17:45:00.001-04:00

I'm in San Antonio, Texas, this week for the Final Four. Getting here was no fun. The plane was delayed 90 minutes by weather and because it was too heavy.

The jet seats 66 people but only 52 were able to fly because United had loaded extra fuel on the plane in case it had to divert to another airport because of thunderstorms between DC and Texas.

Then when we got to San Antonio, we had to sit on the tarmac because there was no where to park the plane. So all these delays made me late for the final practices for the games. So I missed the players and coaches, and the fact that Roderick Stewart broke his knee cap while trying to do a funky dunk during warm-ups.

So I have to play a little catch-up. Carolina was practicing by the time I got to the Alamodome, but I couldn't talk to players or coaches. So I will have to get audio from a local affiliate or something.

Thus is the life of a government reporter. I probably should have come here yesterday.

Religio et politico

2008-03-25T19:02:00.003-04:00

So Hillary is trying anything she can to sling mud at Barack Obama by saying that Jeremiah Wright would not have been her pastor. So maybe she should stick to making sure she tells the truth about her record instead of trying to sling mud. She was not under sniper fire when she went to Bosnia-Herzegovina. She was walking with U.S. troops!

So Hillary is trying anything she can to deflect interest away from the fact that she lied about where she went and how she got there. She is behind, and is trying anything she can to make herself look presidential. But lying is not presidential - unless you are Hillary's husband. He certainly has a doctorate in deception.

I really wish they would all go away. None of them seems to have what it takes to lead the greatest nation in the world. Not that McCain would be that much better. A vote for McCain is more of the Same (sounds like Jesse Jackson, huh?)

And the 4,000th U.S. soldier died this week in Iraq. Four troops got blown up by a roadside bomb, and that put the total over the 4k mark. The Iraqis seem to let someone else do the heavy lifting and the dying and they will take advantage of what is left. And the corruption in the oil markets in Iraq continue to rise. Pipelines are busted, the oil is drained, and then when the stuff is refined, the truckers dump water in the tankers instead of diesel fuel. And this is what our tax dollars are paying for.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon reported that it mistakenly shipped the nose cone of a Titan Missile to Taiwan instead of a case of helicopter batteries. Excuse me? They Titan nose cone looks nothing like a helicopter battery. And we want to export this crap to other countries?

Superman got into the kryptonite

2008-03-24T20:41:00.003-04:00

So Tiger lost - big whoop. Did we really believe that anyone - even Tiger Woods - could go undefeated? Nah. C'mon. He didn't lose by much a couple strokes.

But people thought the New England Patriots would go undefeated, too. And we all know how THAT worked out.

But Mr. Woods is still the baddest man to swing a bent stick and get through all the horrible stuff in the way.

So the Masters is in two weeks. Look for Tiger to be back on the prowl.

Hoops and pickers

2008-03-21T11:58:00.003-04:00

One of the pleasures of this job is that you actually get to do something that you would want to do if you didn't have to work. One of the things I like to do is talk to musicians, about music, about their work, maybe play a little.

I have had the honor of talking to Dr. Billy Taylor, the late James Brown, George Clinton, and Victor Wooten. This week, I got a chance to chat with country star and Grammy winner Vince Gill.

Turns out Vince is a big fan of the Belmont Bruins, the Nashville, Tennessee school that was playing Duke in the first round here in Washington at the Verizon Center. I saw him on the big screen and grabbed my recorder and chatted with him at halftime of the game.

I have to admit I was a little intimidated to talk to him. I mean he's not here for an interview; he's here to watch a basketball game. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. And we have a mutual friend. A good friend of mine went to church with Vince's wife Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and Brown Bannister when she was in school at Vanderbilt. So I screwed my courage to the sticking point and asked him a few questions. I also had to remember, he's a musician, I am a musician, we have that in common.

"How are you liking the game so far," I asked.

"It's a lot of fun, I think these teams match up pretty well, so far. Duke is obviously a better ball club, with better players," he said.

"Did you graduate from Belmont or are you on the faculty there?"

"No I am just great friends with (Belmont Coach) Rick Byrd. We have been friends and I have been going to their games for about 20 years now. I tease him and say that 'I am your Jack Nicholson; the Lakers have Jack Nicholson, and you have me."

"What's your latest project, what are you working on right now?"

"Well, I just last month won a Grammy for the last record I had out called These Days. And I will probably work on another record and get out and do some touring. My world doesn't change much from year to year, it's pretty similar, " he answered.

It was LOUD where we were talking. The Pep bands from both Belmont and Duke were blaring away and there were about 20,000 people in the building.

But we kept chatting.

"So, I was talking to a Belmont student earlier today who is a music business major. What advice would you as a working musician give to young kids who are coming up and hoping to get into the music business?"

"You know, the funny thing is, the way I grew up, the business is not that way any more, so my advice is almost pointless, because the era of today is not really comparable to the era I grew up in. The bottom line is, great music is great music, and if you can find a way to steer towards that and bet on that, and always put art before commerce, it will benefit you greatly.

I asked him about the American Idol phenomenon, where some folks seem to get fame at a younger and younger age - especially this year. Vince told me that its very different now.

"To compare the music business of today to the music business of 30-35 years ago when I started is crazy. But it still holds true, today is such a visual age. Everybody watches music, even in the way you record it, with the computerization, the way it's done it all shows up on a screen. And you look at music more so now than you listen to it and I grew up in my bedroom just listening to music, figuring out with my ears how they did it. And its very different because people want to see it. But once again, hard work will create an awful lot of good luck. But the things like American Idol that you are seeing, it doesn't matter how you get your foot in the door. The bottom line is once you get your foot in the door if you have talent you've got a chance. That's never going to be any different."

"So it's like 10% inspiration and 90% hard work, right?"

"Yeah, you gotta work really hard, You've got to be willing to starve. A lot of people aren't. A lot of people want - the age today people want to be famous. You know people like Paris Hilton are just famous for being famous, not necessarily for doing anything. And I think there's a lot of singers, and musicians and rappers that are the same way. But a true musician just wants to be great at what they do."

I could tell I should wrap things up - I mean I didn't want to take all Vince's time - he might have to go to the bathroom or something. But I wanted to get in a couple more questions.

"So tell me, I have friends - and myself included - who would play music for free because it's their passion. Is that true of you?"

"I would and did and will again (Laughs)." With that, I thought I had enough and walked back to my seat. But it was great to chat with him. God help you when two pickers get together. There's much I would have loved to ask, but maybe later.

N-C-blah, blah, blah

2008-03-20T16:27:00.002-04:00

Okay sports fans, it's that time of year again. Time to fill out brackets and watch games and suffer heartbreak and feel the rise of hope. Time to believe in the impossible - until your team plays North Carolina or Duke.

I write this from the press room at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC, where Xavier has just disassembled Georgia and Purdue is wiping the court with Baylor. It's the same setup as the last time I did this - the Wizards' practice court is converted into a press work room and interview room. Big tables, lots of people with laptops, expensive food, cheap snacks and lots of waiting.

The excitement is actually on the court - especially if you are a basketball fan. But here in the press room it is all about pouring over stacks of stats, trying to produce audio reports, watching three different games at once and putting up with BS from editors.

But it is a chance to get out of the office. For that I am deeply grateful.

I got the chance to talk to some Belmont fans - their team, the Bruins, plays Duke in the first round. Belmont could be the new word for bye bye in a couple hours. But the fans made the trip from Nashville. One of them - a music business major - said that while Vanderbilt might be better known, his school will give it's best.

I fear it will not be enough. Duke is a second seed, and former champion. Belmont is where????????

And so the games will most likely go to the better teams - Duke, North Carolina, Memphis, Tennessee, Xavier, UCLA. But Cinderella has to try on the shoe anyway. Back to work.

Later.

Here he is ....

2008-03-06T23:27:00.001-05:00

This is Snickers, a 12-week old Schnoodle we adopted this week.

New Additions

2008-03-05T11:12:00.001-05:00

We have two new additions at our home and both are challenges. The first is an actual addition - a Florida room - that was started in November and still hasn't finished.

The second is a puppy.

Both are challenging and both require exact steps to ensure success.

The Florida room was full of surprises - the first being that the deck on which we had been living and on which the room will be built never passed final inspection from the county.

Okay, go to the county office, sit there for hours, take the plans to get approved, get them approved by (1) zoning and then (2) the mechanical people. Schedule an inspection for framing and then for concealment. Okay hoops jumped, what next.

Then the carpenter who designed the Florida room decided he would rather live in Florida, so he moved. Didn't bother to tell us, just up and left. Hmmmmmmm.

Then we had to get the braces reinforced for the hot tub that has been sitting on the deck for about three years now. Tub people didn't tell us that we needed any inspection of the deck or any reinforcement - just sold us the tub. So tear the deck up, reinforce the bracing, wait for the inspector, pay the county more $$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Okay, more hoops jumped through. Then we find out that the contractor we hired to build the room is not licensed to build anything but decks and porches (the Florida room started out as a screened-in porch, but evolved into a full-fledged addition).
So he has to upgrade his license or work under someone who has a higher-class license. More hoops, more money, more time at the County Office. Uggghhhhhh!!!!!!!

And in the midst of all this we adopt a puppy!

We must be mentally ill.

And now it's all about puppy, puppy, puppy. But that's backwards. We are supposed to give attention, affection, food, treats, etc to our older dog first. Okay, so that requires a paradigm shift.

The puppy cost $250 to adopt, then more money for his tag$, his crate, his blanket, any chew toy$$$, and in the midst of all this he's a puppy. A four-legged poop machine in my house.

So the past few days has been “walk the puppy, take the puppy out to pee, to poop, to learn to walk on a leash. Crate the puppy, don't let the puppy bite me, play with the puppy.” All while still working full time and living life.

But there is hope: puppy obedience school! We have signed up and the classes can't start soon enough for me. In the interim, the older dog has to be first in the affection-food-toys-attention department. Crate the puppy, play with the older dog, feed him, etc. (Of course after we eat!).

I have taken to likening the situation to a rookie on a football team. Veterans get preference. Rookies have to learn the system and get taped to the goal post. I'll post more later, including pics of both projects.

Bloggin da bowl

2008-02-03T20:16:00.000-05:00

Okay so I'm not at the Super Bowl this year. My editor is there. Good thing. The halftime show sucks! Tom Petty is such a geezer! Prince was much better last year. My wife is like "Entertain me! This is the Super Bowl!"

I agree. So far the commercials are okay. My favorite was the fire-breathing one for Bud light and the Fab Five with Charles Barkley and Dwayne Wade. The rest of them were pretty lame. Except for the talking stain; THAT was funny. The Pigeons for FedEx were pretty good too. But the screaming squirrel and his friends were kind of silly as were the badgers in the Toyota.

Liked the Rocky-esque ad with the Clydesdale and the Dalmatian. The high-five at the end was a nice touch.

I am surprised that the Patriots haven't scored more than seven points so far. And now Barack Obama is boring me with a stupid political ad! And Danica Patrick's Go Daddy.com ad was lame. She says "with my new GoDaddy.com webpage I have all the exposure I need." LAME! Not that I expected her to take her clothes off; that would have been too much even for the Super Bowl. Even for Go Daddy.

But they could bring back the fire-breather ad. That was funny!

The heart jumping out of the woman's chest was a little gross. But I can relate to wanting to tell the boss to shove it. Pretty sick when you have a plate of food though.

More playing....

2008-01-23T15:19:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm now officially obnoxious with Photoshop. But this is another effort I put together using some of my own photos from an October trip to the City of Lights.

I've been playing

2008-01-23T14:02:00.000-05:00

I started to learn a few Photoshop tricks. This image is an example of some of the things I have learned so far - layers, shadows, etc. I have a lot more to learn.

Let it Snow?

2008-01-17T11:07:00.000-05:00

Primary reason....

2008-01-05T18:45:00.001-05:00

So Obama and Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. Will it make any difference? Who knows.

I am glad to see that Hillary finished third in Iowa. I don't like Hillary. Plain and simple, I don't like her; I think she has all the charm of a pit viper and all the sincerity of a magician. Maybe that's giving magicians a bad name.

Mitt Romney is the same thing. He's a shape-shifter in a bad suit. He impresses me as someone who will do and say whatever he needs to to get you to believe he is sincere, and then turn around and stick it to you when he has what he wants. I don't think anyone who doesn't have the good sense not to spend his own money to get elected should be trusted with our dollars.

As for Huckabee, I'm still not sure about him. He seems sincere. Of course he could be, or he could be another big disappointment. Bush sure has been.

But I am glad to see Joe Biden and Chris Dodd bow out. No one would have elected them; their campaigns were fools errands. Besides, if a Democrat wins the White House - which they might because of Republic fatigue - then Biden and Dodd stand a chance to get more influence in the Senate.

But in about a month we will all know. No one without a chance of winning will last past Super Tuesday. That will be it. With the number of primaries on that day, the field will probably be narrowed to two or maybe three on each side. The rest will be gone.

But come November, look for whoever wins the Presidency to win it with about one-quarter of the eligible voters voting for him (or her). The vast majority of American voters - Republican or Democrat - will probably just stay home and not vote.

And we want to export THAT to other countries?

What's that?

2007-12-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

Okay. So is it a cross or a bookshelf? And what about the three Christmas balls on the shelf? Is that supposed to be the Trinity? Or is it just three Christmas balls on a shelf? And what about the lights on the tree? If you connect them do they spell out "repent"?

I don't think so.

But nothing in political ads is done by accident. The men in the little dark rooms plan everything we see, so if the cross shaped bookshelf was not intentional, it was surely opportunistic. The sad thing is that the bookshelf will get more attention that what Mike Huckabee has to say. I don't think the men in dark rooms wanted that to happen.

A shot across the bow ....

2007-12-21T10:19:00.000-05:00

I just got the results of my biennial physical bloodwork. It was not good news. My cholesterol is up (203) with the bad stuff - the LDL - up to 136. Apparently the best is for this level to be below 100. The last time I was tested - two years ago - it was 114. So no more high-fat foods. Love the (yuk) veggies.

That shouldn't surprise me. I have been eating like a pig. And my weight has shown it. Since 2004 I have regained 50 of the 80 pounds I lost on WeightWatchers. I don't know who I think I'm fooling. I haven't been sticking to the program, so why should I expect it to work.

My doctor said my weight is the big problem. No prostate trouble, no high blood pressure (thank God that was normal!) and my blood tells the whole story.

I was thinking this morning that what I have been doing is not working - the lies I have been telling myself. The extra calories add up and there's no way around it.

So if I want to live, I have to change. No fun. Especially right before the family Christmas gathering. But what has to be done has to be done.

Pray for me. Food is one thing that I have struggled to control my whole life. Now the battle is serious.

It's that time of year ....

2007-12-19T13:26:00.000-05:00

to take a look back at what has happened and see where you might be going. My year has been an eventful one; I have probably earned more air miles this year than I had in my previous 44 years on the planet.

My first trip was to the Super Bowl in Miami, Florida in February. That's where Tony Dungy and the Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears in a pouring rain. Billy Joel did the National Anthem and Prince did the halftime show. I got soaked, but it was a good game. Not to mention it was about 70 degrees there while it was around 30 degrees in DC. Not bad work if you can get it.

Shortly thereafter, Cornelia and I went to the Bahamas for a much-needed warmth break. She gets SAD really bad if we stay in the cold, dark, wetness of DC for too long. Frankly if we didn't work here, we would probably live somewhere warmer.

In July, I went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the Pan American Games. It was one of the longest flights I have ever taken, and apart from some great music and a chance to see Rio's Christ the Redeemer Statue, I was frustrated by not being able to do my job. Without the rights, I couldn't take any recording equipment into the venues, so I couldn't bring back any tape of the athletes I was interviewing actually doing what they do. But we will try to work around it somehow.

My bitching was put in perspective when nearly 200 people died in a plane crash in Sao Paulo while I was there. They slid off the runway at Congonas Airport in a driving rain storm and no one survived. It made getting home that much more special.

Shortly after the Rio trip I went to Japan to cover the World Athletics Championships. That was the trip I actually wanted to take. The Rio trip I was roped into because my boss wanted someone to go. But Japan was somewhere I wanted to see. It was like being dropped on another planet. The atmosphere and the attitudes were so different from home. And it was another God-awful long flight both going and coming.

In October, Cornelia and I did something I have wanted to do for a long time - we went to Paris. That was one trip that I would do again in a heartbeat. The other places I have been this year? Not so much.

The highlight of the year has been twofold - finding a new church and graduating from Regent University. Both are things that are a relief and a joy. But sometimes I wonder what to do now?

God is not finished with me yet. The elections are coming up next year, and I frankly don't know who to vote for. Some of my church friends say Mike Huckabee, but of course they also said Sam Brownback, who dropped out of the race. But I am not really enthusiastic about any of them.

We gather together ...

2007-11-22T13:20:00.000-05:00

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever(Ps. 107:1). What are you thankful for? It's Thanksgiving, and it might seem trite or smarmy to some to think of what we are thankful for, but here's a few things I am grateful to God for:

1. My wife. I never dreamed that I would be married to someone who is so much fun to be with and yet can tolerate me at my worst. Even when we fight - and we do sometimes - we make up. And we love one another. I am amazed that such a wonderful woman would marry me, and would understand the darkness that sometimes plagues me.

2. We have found a new church. After attending one fellowship for several years, we left that church about 18 months ago. From there we went to an Assemblies of God church for about a year, but never seemed to fit in. But now we have found a fellowship where we seem to fit. It has the kind of worship we long for and the preaching is fantastic - which is rare. Most of the time you have to choose one or the other - either good worship or good preaching, but seldom both.

3. We have been reasonalby healthy this year. Cornelia (my wife) still has some physical struggles because of the rigors of her job, but she has been able to keep working.

4. I got my degree from Regent University. Master of Arts in Pratical theology. I still don't feel like I know anything. If anything I learned how much I don't know. But that's good. That way I can't cop an attitude about how much I know.

5. Cornelia and I got to go to both the Bahamas and Paris this year. The Bahama trip was to get warm and the Paris trip was a dream come true. And we didn't break the bank on either one and still had a good time.

6. I still have a job. The efforts of the Bush Administration to eliminate my job notwithstanding, I still have an income.

7. My bass teacher Anthony Wellington. This dude has talent to spare and yet is a great teacher. Again that's rare. Many times players are either great players or great teachers. Anthony is both. Make it funky.

8. I am getting better at piano. I don't always like it that my teacher makes me play recitals, but hey, it's the only thing that motivates me to practice, so that's a good thing.

9. I got to travel a lot this year - to the Super Bowl in Miami, to the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (where I got to hear some really GREAT music) and to Osaka, Japan. I wasn't all that enthusiastic about the long plane rides, but I got to each of these assignments - and most of all got home - without incident.

10. The things we take for granted - the car works, the house is in pretty good shape, no fires, tornadoes or hurricanes wreaking havoc on life, and things are prosperous. Not rich, but not poor. Sometimes that's hard to remember in the stress of everyday life, but there are no guarantees in life. Thanks be to God for the simple things - food, clothes, shelter, transportation, warmth. Not to mention laughter, intellectual stimulation, friends, learning, and growth.

Render unto Caesar ....

2007-11-10T13:30:00.000-05:00

that which is Casear's. And render unto God that which is God's. Jesus said that about paying taxes. Jesus and taxes have been in the news this week as Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley asked several ministries to account for how they spent their money. The ministries involved include some of the so-called "prosperity gospel" teachers - Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar among them.

Let me preface this post with two facts:

1) I serve on the board of a non-profit ministry; and

2) I work for the Federal Government, so taxes pay my salary.

A friend of mine and I had a back and forth over this. His basic premise is that the State cannot tell the church what to do, i.e., the state cannot be all up in the church's work because (a) it has not been given that authority and (b) tax exemption implies sovereignty over someone and the church is supposed to be subject to God only.

Okay, I'll give him that. I don't want the government in all my business either, and I don't agree with everything that Uncle Sam spends my tax money on. But part of the exemption granted under 501c3 status is that non-profit organizations make a full disclosure of their finances (a form 990) if asked. But that's where the rub comes in with Bros Copeland, Dollar and others. They are considered churches, and are not required to file a 990.

Senator Grassley has given the ministries until December 6th to respond.

Constitutional issues aside, I must admit being surprised by all the uproar. If the ministries have done nothing to violate the Federal tax code, they have nothing to fear. They can open the books and say - here it is, here is what we received, what we spent, how we spent it and what we have left.

If there has been honesty, then they will be found to be honest. If they have tried to sidestp the law and keep their exempt status, they should be afraid. Why? Because the government we have is given to us by God (See Rom 13:6,7). I might not like it, I might disagree with its policies, but in the United States the way to express my grievance is most appropriately in the voting booth.

No one likes an audit; I wouldn't like one either. It makes you look dishonest even if you haven't been because otherwise why would Uncle Sam be poking his nose in your business?

But in the age of Enron and other corporations bilking their investors out of billions of dollars, keeping everything above board is not only necessary for financial safety, but to preserve the integrity of all ministry.

I can't believe these people

2007-11-01T13:52:00.000-04:00

I heard this story yesterday on the radio, and I shuddered to believe it. But it's true. The God Hates Fags people in Topeka, Kansas are at it again. But this time, they lost. To the tune of nearly 11 million dollars.

Let me say two things at the outset:

1. I am a Bible-believing Christian and a graduate of a conservative Christian school;

2. I have a gay family member.

Now that those two things are clear, let's rap. I don't believe that "God Hates Fags." I do believe that God hates sin. But homosexuality is just one of a LOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNGGGG list of sins the Apostle Paul lists in at least three of this epistles (Romans, Corinthians, Galatians).

But he also mentions envy, malice, anger, slander, gossip, hatred, clamour, evil speaking, greed, pride and several others. Some people want to say one sin is worse than others (they appeal to Paul's reference that sexual sin is a sin against one's own body) but the thing about sin is ALL of it is deadly.

It's like having a little cancer. Or being a little bit pregnant.

And the God whom these protestors allege hates fags is the same God who was bleeding and dying on a cross in Jerusalem.

I find it ironic that these protests were at the funeral of a U.S. Marine and the lawsuit was filed by the Marine's father. A couple of Jesus' miracles were at funerals (Jairus's daughter and the widow of Nain - oh and there was that thing with Lazarus, too). And when he started his ministry, Jesus read the passage from Isaiah that reads:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

I think that says it.

Au Revoir, Forgettaboutit

2007-10-31T11:39:00.001-04:00

So long, Karen Hughes. The Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy is the latest Bushista to skip ship. Ms. Hughes - whose tenure at State as a communications guru has been criticized as an abysmal failure - gave all of us some Halloween candy by kissing her job goodbye.

I don't know how much she was paid; I know she once worked as a reporter, but that was long ago. But the benefits for the U.S. image overseas - like much of the Bush Administrations efforts to keep people from blowing up Americans after 9-11 - didn't prove to be much. As a matter of fact, perceptions of the United States overseas dropped during her tenure.

Like many who have fled the sinking ship, Ms. Hughes is "returning to the private sector," but whether she will be completely out of the inner circle at 1600 remains to be seen.

That's me in the corner ....

2007-10-23T09:13:00.000-04:00

I just watched Mitt Romney's interview - or at least a 10-minute portion of it - on CBS's Face the Nation. The focus of it is Romney's Mormon faith and what role it plays in his life as a political candidate. Okay I get that. The man's running for president. But my impression of him was that he is obfuscating.

Several times in the interview he uses a contrast between his faith and his values. He says things like people might be concerned about his faith, but when they look at his values they would agree with him.

As the interview continued, I got the idea that Romney is using the word "values" in the sense of "what is important to me," i.e. don't steal, don't cheat, be honest in business, deal evenly with people, etc. But the word "faith" is reserved for his belief about the nature of the universe, is there a God and how to relate to Him.

The question that came to mind is "when did faith and values become different things?" Should not our faith inform - and if I can use the word - dictate our values? Or is faith something that is reserved for Sundays or Saturdays or Fridays, but the rest of the week we live by "values."

The problem with that kind of thinking - in my opinion - is that it separates faith from the everyday. Jesus taught that the two greatest commandments were to love God with everything (heart, mind, soul, strength) and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The majority of His teaching dealt with everyday issues - things we would call "value judgments" - not with just how to know God or relate to him. Jesus even went so far as to say that if we don't forgive others their trespasses, God will not forgive US!

Mitt Romney gives a good speech. He looks a little like Max Headroom, but he and his family paint a pretty picture. But I am not really comfortable with any candidate making the dichotomy between faith and life. All of life is a work of faith, or none of it is. Either we believe or we don't.

It almost reminds me of someone who says they are "trying to quit smoking" while they have a cigarette dangling from their mouth. A person either smokes or they don't; decide which you are and BE that.

Baseball, blah blah blah

2007-10-11T15:17:00.000-04:00

Now is the time when baseball actually means something. The only problem is, two of the four teams are boring, boring, boring.

The Arizona Diamondbacks play the Colorado Rockies in an NLCS that's about as interesting as watching the balls at Coors field's humidor grow fat. (They put the baseballs in a humidor; it counteracts the really dry weather there that gave the Rockies' home field the reputation as a hitter's ballpark).

The other series between Boston and Cleveland promises to be at least a little exciting. But since most of the people on the East Coast don't get to see the Rockies or the Diamondbacks play on a regular basis, the NLCS promises to be a low-rated affair. That and the fact that it's on TBS, instead of ESPN or Fox. ESPN is running college football - Florida State against Wake Forest!

But it's time for football anyway. The Baseball bobbleheads have milked as much money out of us as can reasonable be expected. Maybe they can have a really boring World Series - like Cleveland and Colorado. Anyone for re-runs of The Bionic Woman online?

Who do YOU say ....

2007-09-25T21:11:00.000-04:00

How do you perceive God? Some don't believe He is there; I know better than that, having experienced a relationship with Him.

But what is He like? Is He angry? Is He loving? Is He gentle or stern? Does He feel things the way we do or is He above feeling?

And how do we relate to Him?

The Bible says to approach his throne of GRACE to find mercy and grace to help in time of need. Jesus testified that God so loved the world - the who lot of us - that He sacrificed His only Son to save us. But sometimes I struggle to believe that He loves me, even though I have experienced times of love and closeness with Him.

I'd be interested to read your answers.

No, you still can't call me

2007-09-07T12:27:00.000-04:00

I learned through watching the news this morning that the national "Do Not Call Registry" - remember that thing that you put your number on so telemarketers will not call you at all hours of the day - is about to purge its rolls.

Actually the first people to register when this thing was founded will have their protection expire beginning next year.

So unless you want irritating "can I speak to so-and-so" calls during dinner again, go to http://www.donotcall.gov and register your number - again.

Apparently the justification for the numbers expiring is that they want to rid the registry of people who change their phone numbers or move. But I still have the same number - and no, you can't call me.

So get your fingers to www.donotcall.gov and register again. Maybe this time it will last longer than five years, but I don't think so. On the e-mail that you get when you confirm that your registration, the e-mail says "your registration will last until 2012."

A decade in a minute

2007-08-31T22:39:00.000-04:00

It's been 10 years since Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris. That was quick!

What has happened in that time?

George W. Bush has been elected President - twice

Bill Clinton, Bush's predecessor, faced impeachment for lying to Congress, but got off with an apology. Now he's on the verge of being back in the White House - as the first man!

The World Trade Center was destroyed. The man responsible for ordering the attack - Osama Bin Laden - is alive and dying somewhere in the mountains of either Afghanistan or Pakistan - at least that's what the experts say.

We have gone to war in Iraq - again. This time it was no easy victory; this time we are stuck in a quagmire that is draining our treasury and has cost more than 3500 American lives so far.

On a personal note, I have gotten married to the most wonderful woman in the world. We will celebrate our eighth anniversary next month.

I still work at VOA.

I have gotten a Masters Degree in Practical Theology from Regent University.

I still play music, but not in church anymore. Not for a while; too much foolishness and sloppiness for my tastes.

I have been traveling the world a lot - to Greece, to Bermuda, to Canada, to the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, to Belize, to the Netherlands Antilles, to Brazil, Japan, and Mexico.

Cornelia - my wife - and I have changed churches twice. Still looking for that "home."

I moved from a townhouse to a single family home. From no yard to a third of an acre - and have learned how to plant things and make them grow.

And the gray in my hair has increased.

The 10 years went by in a blink. Now I understand what people mean when they say that life is a handbreadth or a whisper. I know that sounds old, but man the time went by like nothing. It pays to live every day to the fullest.

Lord help us to live the kind of lives we will wish we had lived when it comes out time to die.

Anger Management

2007-08-11T02:05:00.000-04:00

Rifleman

The scene is World War II. Help to win the war with individual battles.

Play this free game now!!

This little game is a great way to waste a few hours if you like shoot-em-up games. It's a little like the one I once saw on the Old West, but this one has several levels and the zoom feature on the sniper scope is pretty cool. It also lets you kill the bad guys and blow up their stuff. But be forewarned: You could get killed and it helps to learn how to duck. Try it if you have a few minutes to waste. But don't let the boss see you doing it - 'cuz it's like video game crack - once you try it, you just want more.

Osaka Madness

2007-07-25T15:17:00.001-04:00

When I got back to the office today from my trip to Brazil, there was a form on my desk with the words "get stickers,” scrawled across it. It was from my boss.

Apparently - as is usually the case, as was the case in Rio - in order to report on the World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan, next month, I need to get a sticker for my equipment. That's fine. The only thing is the deadline for applying for radio frequencies was JANUARY of this year. That doesn't really have anything to do with the job I do, because I don't plan on broadcasting anything live. I was planning on being in the mixed zone where the athletes come off the track, record a few quotes, write the story and feed it back to Washington. It's a basic report.

But the Olympic-type guys have figured out that they can make money by making everyone have a sticker on their stuff or they won't be allowed to take it into the stadium. Which means I could fly clear across the world, go to the stadium get in, but would have to leave my equipment back at my hotel room.

I likened it to being invited to the picnic, but not being allowed to eat. But I e-mailed the Osaka 2007 people because what they are restricting is not what we want to do. We just want to be able to get some quotes from the athletes, and insert them in reports. I hope they understand that.

The last one of these that I covered was in 2001, just a month before 9-11. I haven't been to one since - there was one if Paris in 2003 and one in Helsinki, Finland in 2005. But the sense I get from talking to people is that the Japanese are sticklers for abiding by the rules, and it even says that unauthorized equipment and the accreditation of the user will be "confiscated."

I checked their website, and the last deadline for applying for radio frequency - everything from a wireless laptop to a cell phone - was June 4th. There aren't any more. But since that doesn't really have anything to do with what I am doing, maybe there is another set of rules by which to abide. We'll see. Otherwise, its a long trip for nothing. I hope that isn't the case. This is the trip I wanted to take. Brazil was the one I had to take.

More later.

At what price?

2007-07-18T19:43:00.000-04:00

I got to play real reporter today. Unfortunately when I get to do that kind of thing, it usually involves stuff blowing up, burning, collapsing or crumbling and people are usually dead.

That was the case today, in the aftermath of Brazil's worst air disaster in Sao Paolo in which as many as 195 to 200 people died. The plan slammed into a gas station and a building after sliding off a rain-slicked runway in Sao Paolo. The runway, which some pilots had called "the aircraft carrier" because of its short length, had been resurfaced, but the grooves had not been carved into it to drain the water.

The accident was all over the news and Brazilian TV even read the names of the passengers on the list. They showed the grieving and shell-shocked relatives at the airport, which had been closed to jets like the A-320 that crashed because it was considered unsafe.

Unfortunately, an appeals court had overturned the original injunction because it was thought the economic impact on Brazil would be too high. In other words, money was more important that people's lives.

So those people paid the price for the desire for economic prosperity.

Brazil's president declared three days of mourning and Brazilian athletes are wearing black armbands to show solidarity with the families of those killed. They are also observing a minute of silence before each event.

Maybe building a better airport would be a better way to honor the memory of those killed. I don't know. But I do know that grief looks the same in any language. Even though I could not understand what was being said on Brazilian TV, I knew what was meant - this is a horrible tragedy. Unfortunately since the runway – which drops off at the end like an aircraft carrier – cannot be lengthened because there are houses – HOUSES – at both ends of it.

The crash is the worst air disaster in Brazil’s history. Last September 154 people where killed when a Gol airlines 737 collided with a private jet and crashed in the Amazon area. Brazil has notorious battles with its air traffic controllers – including an antiquated system where controllers have to use paper strips to keep track of airplanes.

One person outside Sao Paolo’s main morgue said that it was not surprising. “This is Brazil,” he said. “There’s blame to go all around, but no one is going to take responsibility in the end.”

Sounds so American, doesn't it?

Big Power in a little Package

2007-07-17T20:19:00.000-04:00

I got to interview Natalie Woolfolk of the US Weightlifting team today at the Pan American Games.

She is 5'3' and 135 and it's all a bundle of energy. She won a bronze medal in the women's 63 kilogram class with a total of 213 kilograms (that's almost 470 pounds).

She was a great interview. She is small and perky and laughs readily. She likes to talk about life - not just about sport. She loves James Brown's music - which makes her a champion in my book. Before her bronze medal effort she was listening to "Get Up Offa That Thang" which she said pumped her up.

Natalie is the daughter of the strength and conditioning coach at the U.S. Naval Academy - Kirk Woolfolk. She has improved so much in the past few years that her dad says he won't lift with her any more.

She also loves to cook and hopes to open a bed a breakfast one day. We started comparing lasagna recipes - "do you use dry noodles or wet?" (she uses a combo noodle that's premoistened). "Do you start with peppers and onions in olive oil?" (she doesn't she uses onions and mushrooms). "Do you like it cold the next day?" (she does - but hey doesn't everyone?).

I was so charmed by this young woman - until I looked at her legs. This woman has the legs of a linebacker - I mean Brian Urlacher legs - which is where she gets her power from. That's the deceptive thing about her sport, too. People think that you have to be huge to be a weight lifter - like Vasiliy Alexiev of the former Soviet Union. But this is not so.

Natalie - like Tara Knott - is petite, and if you saw her in street clothes, you would not think she has the kind of power she has. But sitting about three feet from her talking about her sport, I could see how strong she is. She started in gymnastics and trained with weights in her garage once a growth spurt kept her off the balance beam. But it has paid off in many ways.

This girl plays for keeps. Her boyfriend is also a weight lifter - super heavyweight Casey Burgener. She used to work at the Home Depot, but now trains so much that she has no time for work. She also started a cooking club at the US Olympic training facility in Colorado Springs.

Natalie almost got teary when she talked about how much weight lifting has meant to her.

“I love weight lifting,” she said. “But I also enjoy – I have met my boyfriend through this. I have met my very, very best friends through weight lifting. It is very dear to me the opportunities that I have and the people I get to meet.”

In journalism school they teach you not to get too close to the story – to maintain a distance. But after talking to Natalie and getting to know her story, I couldn’t help hoping that I see her again next year in Beijing.

What a racket!

2007-07-16T18:42:00.000-04:00

I was privileged to get an interview with several members of the USA badminton team and their coach today at the Main Press Center.

Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong are the top US men’s doubles team. They are the guys featured in the ad with Brian Urlacher of the Chicago Bears and David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox.

Howard said he didn’t even know who these guys were when they started the shoot, but then he was like “wow, those are some really big dudes.” But the opportunity was great for badminton.

Apparently – according to Howard, Brian Urlacher is a badminton freak. He even plays it in the Bears’ locker room.

“He told me has has a couple of sports they mess around with in the locker room,” Bach said. “So you see a lot of big, tough Chicago Bears football players in the locker room, and they were kind of hitting the birdie – playing badminton in the locker room, so that was pretty neat.”

Turns out Howard Bach also speaks Chinese. He was born in Vietnam and his parents emigrated to San Francisco. His father was the one with the passion for badminton, and kind of did the Broadway mother thing – passed on his dream to his son. Badminton is huge where these guys are concerned.

Bob is from Laos, but his parents emigrated to California as well. He learned the sport from his uncle. He’s also the one who gets the shuttlecock stuck in his leg in the vitamin water commercial.

I also interviewed Eric Go, who was born in the Philippines and plays singles. He was cool – much more rock star like than like a jock. He was more laid back and not so much “all about the sport,” even though he moved to Colorado Springs when he was just 14 to train.

I also interviewed Eva Lee and May Mangkalakiri of the women’s team. Eva was bron in Hong Kong but May was born here. They have two chances to make the Olympics – both in women’s doubles and in mixed doubles – Eva is Howard Bach’s partner and May teams with Bob Malaythong.

The neatest thing was when I talked to the USA Badminton Coach, Cai Zi Min. He was struggling to speak English but when I asked him to answer the questions in Chinese, he smiled a big smile and seemed relieved.

All of this will probably play pretty well with VOA’s language services. Indonesian, Thai, Laotian, Vietnamese, Chinese can all make use of theseinterviews. So that’s a big coup for your erstwhile reporter.

It was rainy here today and that kind of put a damper on things. But getting the interviews was great. I hope to do the same with weightlifting and judo tomorrow. If I can get fencing or shooting before I leave, that will be cake.

Three more days of work and I’m leaving. I’ll be glad to be home.

Rio Day seven

2007-07-15T18:06:00.001-04:00

Sunset Sunday July 15 Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

I Shot this photo before going to watch badminton at the Pan American Games. Badminton at this level is not for the back yard any more.

I did watch a couple of matches, one of which was over quickly. Turns out the whole USA Badminton team was on my flight coming down here. I watched Eric Go play some Brazilian guy.

The interviews did not pan out. The players went back to the Pan American Village, and they didn't come to the court to watch the night matches.

So I had to reschedule until tomorrow. Two of the players - Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong - are featured in the Vitamin Water ad with Brian Uhrlacher of the Chicago Bears and David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox.

You can check it out here. The guys playing the "Chinese team" are actually Howard and Bob. Howard is from Vietnam and Bob is from Laos. Bob is the one who gets the shuttlecock caught in his leg.

No pay, no play

2007-07-14T13:58:00.001-04:00

It's one of the elements of my job that I go to big events that people like to watch on TV. The problem with that is that there is ususally a large TV network that has paid lots of money to the what is called "rights holding broadcaster" for these things.

Like the Pan Am Games in Rio.

The host broadcaster here is a group called International Sports Broadcasting. They own this place as far as TV rights are concerned. And if you don't pay for the rights, you get what is called an "ENR" credential - Electronic Non-Rights holder. As one of this breed of journalist you can do nothing at Games like these except be a spectator or try to work your way around the restrictions to get what you need. It is frustrating for someone who reports for a living.

Part of my job is interviewing people and preparing audio reports for radio broadcast and Internet. But without being able to take my recorder and microphone into the venue, which I can't here, then all I can do is talk to the athletes and write notes like a newspaper reporter. It's still reporting, but the nature of broadcasting is that people don't want to hear the reporter talk, they want to hear the prinicpals, the people involved.

But without the rights, I can't deliver that product. My boss told me to act like my recorder was a personal music player or to say I had come from somewhere else and had no place to put the recorder. There's only one problem - THAT'S A LIE.

And if I did that, I am in effect stealing from the hsot broadcaster and defrauding the people who gave me the credential. It reminds me of something that someone once said when his boss told him to say he was not there when someone called -- "if I can lie for you, I can lie to you." His boss was pissed, but he later learned to trust this guy because of his integrity. I would rather have integrity than an interview.

God is good - even better than you think

2007-07-12T18:45:00.000-04:00

Today I was wondering if I would get the last video I needed for my television piece for the Pan American Games. There was a rumor that the head of the Organizing Committee – Carlos Arthur Nuzman - was going to be in the Main Press Center today. I called all the contacts I could muster last night trying to find out. But it was not confirmed.

Then not only did Nuzman show up, but also IOC president Jacques Rogge, Mario Vasquez Rana the head of PASO the Pan American Sports Organization and three other big wigs.
So not only did I get the people I needed, I got them all at once! Thanks be to God for his wonderful gift.

I also sent my video to Washington, via FTP which took nearly two hours. My editor blew out of the office at 2:00, and the TV intern who was working on the project has FRIDAY OFF!!!! But I can be satisfied that I have done my part. I have shot what I was here to shoot, and I have edited it as much as I could in the field. It isn’t ESPN, but it's what I get paid to do. So that's good.

Now the script needs editing and the package is in the hands of others. We'll see what they do with it.

Rainy Rio

2007-07-12T11:58:00.000-04:00

Here's a photo I shot of Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this morning. Thank God I went there yesterday when it was clear. If I hadn't I would not have gotten any video or photos of the city.

Rio Ranger

2007-07-11T15:53:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Today I was the galloping photographer in Rio. The only way I could get to the sites I needed to video was to take a car, so I hired one. The driver was Local and charged me R$200 which works out to about $100. I also tipped him R$20, which was another 10, and I bought lunch.

But this driver, a Copacabana native named Andre Gadelha, knew how to get everywhere. He knew what roads to take, how to navigate Rio’s unbelievable traffic, and he also schlepped my gear, which was an added plus because that stuff is heavy. We first went to Sugarloaf Mountain, a huge granite cone in the middle of the harbor.

The price as $R35, about $18, and that pays for the trip up and back. It was mostly clear this morning, though there was a little smoke hanging over the city. The wind was picking up and I noticed some clouds forming over the mountains. I would become more intimately acquainted with those clouds later one. The cable car ride was smooth and easy, but the wind did make it swing a little.

There was a delay – with one group hanging in midair – I am assuming it was because of the weather. In the winter in Rio, the winds can howl and the rains come from the center of South America. It’s not cold – I’d guess it was in the 70s – but it sure does knock you around on top of a mountain.

From Sugar Loaf we went to Maracana Stadium, which we couldn’t get into because it is the site of the opening ceremonies. I could have gotten in with my credential, but I could not have taken the camera in because my agency did not buy the rights. But I did get some useful video there.

From Maracana we went to the site of Carnaval, which is basically a huge party with lots of nearly naked people. It’s Rio’s version of Mardi Gras, and they have some of the costumes at the Museum of Carnaval.

From the Museum we went to lunch at another Churrascaria called the Palace and they kept brining the food. After lunch we went to the Christo Redemptor statue in Corcovado. We drove up the cobble stone streets then had to take a van to the top. When we got there, the clouds literally shrouded the statue. That’s a risk in winter in Rio – it gets cloudy and it rains.

But I was there to video that statue, so we stood there in the clouds waiting for a break. Thank God it came. The clouds parted a couple of times just long enough for me to get some video and photos. Then the statue was Christo Obscura.

There was this one guy praying at the base of the statue. He looked like what we in the States would call a homeless person, and he was kneeling at the base of the statue the whole time we were there.

He made me think of the Gadarene demoniac in Mark – my guide Andre even looked at him and then whispered “crazy, huh?” But this guy was on his knees in the clouds, in the cold, praying. I felt like walking up to him and saying “He has heard your cry, be at peace.” I didn’t, because I wasn’t sure of the impression and because I do not speak Portuguese.

I wonder about impulses like that sometimes. Is that God prompting me to act? It certainly is in keeping with God’s character to deliver someone, to restore their minds, to answer their prayers. But I didn’t do it. I kept on video taping and then Andre took me back to my hotel.

Flyin down to Rio

2007-07-10T11:41:00.000-04:00

This is a record of my trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the Pan American Games.

July 8 2007

Dulles International Airport
C Gates
7:25 pm.

I made it through security okay, but there was one little glitch. The guy at the gate did not stamp my ticket to affirm that I had shown him my ID, so the TSA people stopped me just as I was set to go through the metal detector. There I was, shoeless, with my belt and my hat and my laptop plus God only knows how much equipment in my carry-on. And they were telling me I have to go back through the line.

I was dumbstruck.

ME: You mean I’ve got to go all the way back through that line?!

TSA Lady: (Calmly) No sir, you just have to go through that area and we will get someone to stamp your ticket for you. And then we will bring you back through.

ME: Oh, Okay.

TSA Lady: Right this way sir.

We walked just a few steps away and the guy at the gate – who was almost asleep – looked at my ID, looked at my ticket, looked at me, and stamped it with the little red rubber thing. And then the nice TSA lady took me back through the security gate.

I was relieved and she thanked me for my “compliance.” That was the word she used. But she was pleasant enough and I got to my gate in plenty of time. They stopped me again after x-raying my bag with all the TV stuff in it. They did one of those explosive tests – you know, where they swab the inside of things to see if it has been exposed to ammonium nitrate or something. I was secretly hoping that the person who had the TV kit before me wasn’t in Iraq or something. We could have had a problem.

But it was negative.

I put back on my shoes, my belt, my hat, took my portfolio with all my stuff in it, grabbed the 10-ton bag of equipment and now I am waiting for the currency exchange to reopen. And I am eating a Starbucks turkey sandwich and drinking coffee. Do you believe 550 calories and 22 grams of fat for one sandwich! If I hadn’t paid eight bucks for it I would have taken it back. But I don’t expect them to feed us very well on the plane. So I wanted to grab something before I left.

The U.S. athletes were in the airport in one big group when I got there. Apparently it was the soccer team or something. And they were pleasant enough. You can always tell the jocks. They carry themselves differently, particularly those good enough to compete at the Olympic level. When I flew to Argentina for the 1995 Pan Ams it was on a plane full of jocks too. I wonder if any of them will be on this flight. Guess I’ll find out in a couple of hours.

I don’t have any cash. I was going to cash a traveler’s check but there is a seven dollar fee. Maybe I should get some cash anyway. That’s probably the prudent thing to do.

8:26

I got some money – I caved in and paid the $5.95 fee for travelers cheques. I also got some Brazilian Real. It cost me $130.57 for 200 Real. Now I am in the midst of some of the U.S. team members all of them with Nike shoes and matching shorts and t-shirts on. And I still have about another 15 minutes or so before boarding starts. I am trying to brush up on some of my Portuguese survival phrases.

9:20 pm
The plane is delayed. I have been trying to brush up on the Portuguese language studies. So far, I think I have memorized “Do You Speak English?” (voce falla Ingles?) That’s about all I can remember right now.

I also want to memorize “excuse me,” (esculpe me) and “I need to go to the hotel.” I also need to get things like “what time is breakfast” and “I do not understand” (Il no intendo – like there’s no Nintendo player).

This airport is full of people. There’s a lot of them standing in line at the gate – which changed from the original C5 to C8. But no one is going anywhere until the powers that be open the gate and start calling boarding.

Commo vai – how are you? Maiso menos. So-so. Plazair en conosel. Nice to meet you. Keep practicing.

Still no announcement on the plane. Just delayed. Now the numbers changed – it leaves at 10:100. No plane, no flight.

9:45 pm Now the flight doesn’t leave until10:10pm. Again, aircraft delayed. Take all the time you need fellas. Don’t hurry> I have heard that the air traffic control situation in Rio sucks. So I don’t want anyone to rush or try to cut corners. Movement at the gate. People are getting up. Pushing their way toward the gate. Maybe it’s time to go.

10:30 pm Still at Dulles. The Captain just came on the intercom and said that MAINTENANCE has something they need to do to the airplane and apparently its mandatory. So I am in my seat – waiting. They estimate it will take about 30 minutes to do whatever maintenance needs to do. The armrest cover fell off the arm rest next to me and I put it back. They are also passing out the landing cards. Give the customers something to do. But we’ll get there eventually. The captain promised. Right now I think I have the New Age channel pumped up on the headset. That’s enough to make anyone sleepy. We’ll see. Right now it’s time to take off my shoes and listen to the flutist and pianist play.

11:09- finally off the ground. Nine hours in the air

Monday 9 July 2007

Somewhere over the Amazon

I got absolutely no sleep last night. Even with the upgrade, when the person in front of you reclines their seat all the way back, you either have to do the same, or feel that familiar sardine feeling. I wanted to sleep; I tried to, but I didn’t. My left leg felt like it was on the verge of a cramp for hours and I could not find a comfortable way to sit. Once we get to Sao Paolo, everyone gets off the plane, they mix us with a flight that came in from Chicago.

9:10 Sao Paolo Airport

I finally got a couple of hours of fitful sleep. I guess my desire to sleep was stronger than my lack of comfort. But I was awakened by the breakfast cart – the flight attendants put the little breakfast on my tray, but I never ate it and they took it away. I did drink the coffee. Then we got off in Sao Paolo to go through security – they had one gate with three people on it – to get back on the same plane we left. I literally will be getting back in the same seat for the flight to Rio. Everybody has to make sure we’re safe. The Brazilian TV on in the airport is kind of like VOA’s tv.

9:19 (Brazil time) I just sat back in the same seat I was in from Washington. It’s cleaner, like they scrubbed out the plane a little. But it’s the same seat. Ah well. On to Rio!

10:04 pm After arriving in Rio exhausted, I have had a full day. I spoke to some of the USOC folks at the airport, and they told me that I should have received a packet with my credential information in it. They also told me that if I didn’t get it I would have to fight it out on my own. So I went to my hotel – which turned out to be a very charming place – even if it is far from the us stop to catch the media shuttle. And it’s almost an hour through hellish traffic to get to the media center.

The favelas are about as depressing as you could imagine. Think of the worst tree house fort you ever built – you know the kind of thing that fell in when the first high wind came. And now imagine millions of people living in conditions not much better than that. All over the hills in Rio. And right in the middle of the squalor is the multimillion dollar Maracana stadium, a gleaming white temple of football. But to get to it you have to go through a pretty desolate neighborhood. I wouldn’t want to leave MY car parked there during a game.

At the press center I discovered that while my name is in the system and my affiliation is in there, my vitals – passport number, visa number, father’s name, mother’s name, place of birth, country of birth – were NOT THERE! So I had no choice but to come back to my hotel and get the passport and take it tomorrow. I was going to try to get back tonight, but they only stayed open until 9:00 and I wouldn’t have made it there with the traffic. It was just about as bad as any I have been in – Hampton Roads, Washington, New York, anywhere.

I came back to my hotel and ate dinner at a charruacera ? or something like that where they have guys come by with big – and I MEAN BIG – skewers of meat. And they slice you off as much as you want until you say stop. And they bring fruit and fries, and oysters, and fried bananas and rice and bread and everything you could imagine. And you just pluck it off the skewers. And they won’t stop until you tell them to. They will NOT stop piling stuff on your plate until you say Nao!

So I am full, and tired, and frustrated, and wondering what to do tomorrow. Right now I am going to bed. Bom Noite.

Video madness

2007-07-05T17:08:00.000-04:00

I tried my hand at video on the mall last Saturday. This is a rough cut version using Vegas Video 7. Be merciful.

Whatddya say?

2007-06-27T16:23:00.000-04:00

I have been preparing for a trip for work - more e2 madness - and it has been driving me up the wall. It's all last minute, throw it at the wall something will stick kind of planning.

And for once, I can't really be upset with my employer for the way they handle things. This time it's the place I'm going that has made thing more complicated. But it has also taught me about what it means to let go of stuff. I had to get to the point where I said "God, you know about this. Not only do you know about it, but you also had to allow it to happen the way that it happened. So here it is. You take over."

That was hard for me to say cuz I can be a bit of a control freak. And I tend to take it out on people around me. But this trip (to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) has the potential to be really a cool time. And I have seen things come together all at once - but not until the last minute.

It reminded me of something a friend of mine said in his testimony about how God provided a job for him when he was let go during the Savings and Loan crisis. My friend said that God spoke to his heart and said "I am seldom early, but I am never late."

So there it is. I look forward to this trip. Look for postings from Rio. I am definitely going to try to catch some Brazilian music, in addition to the sports stuff and will post photos.

Balancing act

2007-06-14T09:52:00.000-04:00

This issue of performance versus ministry continues to churn in my head and heart. I was watching Ken Burns' Jazz a couple of days ago, specifically the chapter called "Risk" about Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie and Miles Davis. The program talked about the instrumental virtuosity of Parker and Diz, and had some archival footage of the two of them playing on the Downbeat Awards Show in the 1950s. And Bird was flying - 250 bpm no doubt. And like all true artists, he made it look effortless. His face held no expression, but his voice - his horn - spoke volumes to anyone who would listen.

Many sax players have tried to imitate Bird, they have tried to sound like he sounded play like he played and have tirelessly learned every note he played - even the bad ones. But his voice - his style - came out of who he was - his life, his times, his experience. It all came out of his horn.

Which leads me to these thoughts about worship music:

1) It is a performance in front of people. It is doing something with skill and it requires training, because even people who do not play an instrument can recognize good - or bad - music. It's part of the world in which we live, it's part of being alive. We hear music everywhere - on television, in the movies, in traffic, at the store. Some stores subscribe to a particular kind of music to make you feel more comfortable shopping there.

So when the public - and I am talking in an American context only - comes to a church service, they carry a subconscious expectation of what music is supposed to sound like. Depending on your ecclesiastical tradition, they might see an organ, a piano, guitars, drums, a full band, a choir, or any number of musical instruments. And seeing that ignites the expectation that there will be music. But if that music is poorly played or disjointed or distracting, they will remember that more than anything else.

It's not fair - I know. Church bands or music groups might not have the resources that produce the high quality media that people are used to in the marketplace. But one person with a guitar can be as powerful as an angelic messenger depending on their heart condition.

2) Referring to my earlier post, the best music in the world will not cause people to worship. At best it is a tool, but worship is a heart response to God's invitation. God both initiates and receives worship.

True worship comes from the heart of the people involved. A simple arrangement can yield a powerful result because of the intent and response of those playing.

But music does play a role - it can be a road sign, extolling God's virtues, speaking of His mercies, telling the story of redemption and offering hope.

I have described this tension between performance and ministry as being like balancing a marble on a glass table. It can be done, but you have to pay attention. You don't want to drop the marble, and you don't want to scratch the table. So care must be taken. Like all analogies, this one breaks down if you take it too far.

So while we may never escape the idea of performing when it comes to a worship service, the intent is always to facilitate an encounter with God. He is the One for whom all things exist and for Whose pleasure everything was created.

What does It Mean?

2007-05-25T10:26:00.000-04:00

What does the word worship mean to you? As a church musician I have had to explore what it means to worship and what I have found was surprising.

Let me preface my remarks by saying the last thing I want to do is criticize the way someone relates to God. My personal relationship with the Almighty has gone through (and goes through) some difficult times. I guess a better way to ask the question is what does the Bible mean when it says "worship."

Is it a musical genre? Is it our lifestyle? Is it something we do as a community? I have found that worship is something we are commanded to do, but it is also something we cannot do for ourselves.

One of the authors I have read makes the point that worship is our response to God's action - both his action in Christ through redemption, his action through the church and in our lives. God is the one who initiates worship; we are the responders.

But back to the fundamental question: what is worship. The dictionary definition is "reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred. Also, adoring reverence or regard."

In the Bible, there are a variety of words translated "worship" but the main Hebrew word is shachah while the number one Greek word translated worship in the New Testament is proskuneo . Both of them carry a similar meaning - to bow down. Literally, to put your forehead on the ground as a sign of reverence.

According to one lexicon, shachah means "to bow down, to prostrate oneself before a superior in homage; to bow down before God in worship." Out of 166 times this word is used in the Old Testament, it is translated "worship" 99 times.

As for proskuneo it is defined as "to kiss the hand towards one, in token of reverence. Among Orientals, esp. Persians, to fall on the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence. In the NT, by kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication."

One interesting side note about proskuneo, it can mean literally to lick or kiss the hand, like a dog does his master. I used to find that insulting until I learned something about dogs (thank you Cesar Milan, aka, "The Dog Whisperer"). When a dog licks its masters' face or hand, it is not a simple sign of affection; it is an acknowledgement that you are above him, that you are higher in the pack than he is. So the meaning of "proskuneo" took on a new light for me; worship is a way of acknowledging that we are not God, that He is higher than we are.

But this kind of worship is not something we can cook up, no matter how many Chris Tomlin songs we sing. It is a response to God's action. As Richard Foster wrote in The Celebration of Discipline:

"Worship is our responding to the overtures of love from the heart of the Father. Its central reality is found "in spirit and truth." This is kindled within us only when the Spirit of God touches our human spirit. Forms and rituals do not produce worship, nor does the formal disuse of forms and rituals. We can use all the right techniques and methods, we can have the best possible liturgy, but we have not worshiped the Lord until Spirit touches spirit ....singing, praying, praising, all may lead to worship, but worship is more than any of them. Our spirit must be ignited by divine fire."

But be advised, that kind of worship is dangerous - dangerous to our selfishness and complacency. As Mark Labberton wrote in The Dangerous Act of Worship,

"When worship is our response to the One who alone is worthy of it - Jesus Christ - then our lives are on their way to being turned inside out. Every dimension of self-centered living becomes endangered as we come to share God's self-giving heart. Worship exposes our cultural and even spiritual complacency toward a world of suffering and injustice . . . Worship sets us free from ourselves to be free for God and God's purposes in the world."

Next time, I want to look at another question: "Who is the Worship Leader?" I welcome your comments.

(Images courtesy of New York Surveillance players, http://www.notbored.org/scp-photographs.html, pixelperfectonline, and Wow worship.)

Is it Art, Service or Both?

2007-05-15T20:52:00.000-04:00

Is worship a performance? Is it a service or is it a mixture of both? Part of what I have been doing recently is reviewing some of the materials I studied on the way to my Masters from Regent.

One of those materials is The New Worship: Straight Talk on Music and the Church by Barry Liesch. He asks some tough questions and makes some good points about worship in the church. One of the questions he asks is "Should the word 'performance' be avoided in the pulpit?" I don't think so, but I believe it should be qualified.

One of the struggles I have as a musician is the difference between giving - and being satisfied with - a good performance, versus entering into intimate worship of God. When I am playing a church service, my main focus tends to be on getting the notes right, making sure my instrument is in tune and not too loud (or is loud enough!) and blending in with the other performers on the stage.

But I have also read articles and sections of books that encourage leaders to pick people who shine, who reflect the joy of being in God's presence in their faces and actions. I don't know that my 'focusing' face does that; I'm more concerned with making sure I am in time with the rest of the band and I am not distracting the congregation by playing poorly.

Does that mean that focusing on performance is wrong? I don't think so. C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying "Boiling an egg is the same process whether you are a Christian or a Pagan." So making music is the same whether you are playing in church or in a stadium - you are doing something difficult in front of people and it needs to be done well. Otherwise you're not being honest.

What does a thready performance say? "I don't care enough to spend the time to practice to do this well?" "You people (the audience or the congregation) are not worth the time it takes to make sure this is done properly?" "God is not as great as we say because we offer Him something we threw together at the last minute instead of taking the time to prepare?"

But our acceptability to God is not based on what we can do; our acceptability to God is based on what He has done in the death and resurrection of Christ. So where does performance come in? Are we serving the people - the audience or the congregation - or are we serving God? Or are we serving both? More and more I am coming to see that we are doing both - serving God and the people.

I remember reading an article many years ago by John Michael Talbot, a monk who has released several albums and published several books on worship, mysticism, prayer and other topics including The Master Musician, The Joy of Music Ministry , and Come to the Quiet. He told of a time when he was struggling in his musical vocation. People were polite, they seemed responsive, but the power of God seemed absent; people did not seem to really worship in his services.

Ironically he got a fresh revelation from Barry McGuire - you know "The Eve of Destruction" guy from the 1960s? Barry told John that his problem was that he was trying to minister to the people instead of the Lord.

"Minister to the Lord," Barry said, "and let the Lord minister to the people." John tried that approach and saw wondrous responses of worship in his concerts. I also tried to employ this philosophy at a church where I was serving and I noticed more people responding as well.

And one thing I believe it is important to remember is that what we are doing - what we are performing - is something sacred. This is not your garage band playing "Sweet Home Alabama" or "Free Bird." This is a sacred employment. This is something holy; something special. It deserves to be done to the best of your ability, but the goal is to enter into the Holy Presence.

Paul Baloche, the writer of some of contemporary worship musics "big hits" like "Open the Eyes of My Heart" and "Above All" had something telling to say about this subject in an interview. When asked what he had learned about worship, Paul responded "That worship is a journey and God is always the goal." Singing, dancing, making music are expressions of the relationship we have with God.

I will have to chew on that for a while. I welcome your comments.