Rockin’ rev.
Monday, March 28, 2005
The world needs more pastors like Ben Squires.
When he’s not leading the flock at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Manitowoc, Wisconson, Squires writes a blog called Music Spectrum. As you might infer from its title, the blog explores the gamut of musical styles from a faithful worldview; it’s an excellent example of Christian approaches to music criticism and enlightening devotional contexts for mainstream tunes. He’s equally as given to praise Devendra Banhart as Jars of Clay.
Pastor Squires has been a generous supporter of the Festival of Faith and Music in the blogosphere and beyond. For instance, he’s been posting a regular review series of various musicians who’ll participating at this year’s festival. Wouldn’t it be great if more pastors took the time to listen as thoughtfully and carefully to contemporary music as he does?
Links below will take you to each artist’s review at Squires’ blog:
“Gutsy" Jan Krist dreams of dancing in paradise
Holding on for Dear Life with VOL’s Bill Mallonee
Pierce Pettis adds a giant subwoofer to the outdoors
Sufjan Stevens’ strange geography of faith
Weekend update.
Friday, March 18, 2005
With students on spring break this week, the only thing our deserted office is missing is the sound of chirping crickets. Nobody to bring us reviews printed out from their favorite website! Nobody to play us the song they’ve been listening to on repeat for a month! Nobody to pitch us their idea for a new mashup (if you haven’t heard of Missy Elliott Smith yet… you will)! Yes, we are lonely, and depressed.
Nevertheless, it is unavoidably high season in Student Activities.
The Festival of Faith and Music is just around the corner (April 1 & 2), which means that you need to register if you haven’t already, since there will be some marvelous live performances and--count ‘em!--23 workshops. David Bazan is coming, and so should you.
Some other guys making the trip (along with several of their staff members) are Nick Purdy and Josh Jackson, whose brainchild Paste magazine we’ve found indispensible over the last few years. They recently got an extremely complimentary write-up in the New York Daily News (of all places), which should give you an idea of what they do if you aren’t already aware.
One of the things we like about the attendees of this conference is that they are both devoted and entrepreneurial, as evidenced by one Nathan Talley who came up with a way to showcase unsigned artists at FFM. If you’re interested (and own the layperson’s equivalent of two turntables and a microphone--a discman), here’s how you can participate.
If you need something to read this weekend, you could check out my latest *catapult magazine column about slouching. I only recommend it in a pinch, though.
Also, in an effort to stretch its readership a bit, Christianity Today Music is starting to incorporate some commentary and reviews from beyond the CCM sub-culture, for which we commend its intrepid editor. They reprinted a story I wrote about shifting attitudes toward popular culture at Christian colleges and universities this week, and rumor has it there’s some interesting feedback.
I’ve been working, here and there, on a piece about profanity (also known as expletives and cuss words--but did you know that those monikers don’t all mean the same thing?) for the excellent and often wickedly funny SoMA Review, but the festival has been a major time-eater lately. We’re trying to get it out before SAO’s first-ever legitimate hip-hop concert; there actually won’t be many expletives coming from the lips of Gift of Gab, who’s a positive kind of guy, but we’re hoping to open some conversation about how we can better engage with and respond to the language many rap and hip-hop artists use.
My clock says it’s 4:34, which means it’s officially the weekend. Hopefully I’ll be updating this on a daily basis as we begin to collect articles and reviews from outside sources, but for now--good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.
Is this thing on?
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Greetings from the office of Student Activities (otherwise known as SAO) at Calvin College!
This entry marks our first collective foray into the blogosphere, and you’re probably wondering what, exactly, we think we’re doing here. After all, SAO already has its share of webspace. Why bother blogging?
Let me try to explain. Working in student activities at Calvin College has afforded me the invaluable opportunity (and daunting task) of investigating the landscape of popular culture. As such, I put a lot of energy into staying up to speed on the events and trends that comprise the pop culture behemoth.
Often, I learn about these by talking with colleagues and students, reading magazines, and perusing news websites, but the advent of blogging has made it possible for me to find out how a variety of people—from PhDs to ordinary citizens—feel about, react to, and interact with what’s happening in pop culture. We decided we wanted to add our voice to that chorus.
One of SAO’s recent goals has been to get Calvin’s unique approach to popular culture out into the public square with the hope that it will contribute to “changing the conversation” (a concept about which I’ve been writing in more detail for *catapult magazine). Blogging seemed like a natural step in this process, a way of providing an interactive, accessible, and constantly evolving venue in which we could convey some of the things we’re reading and talking about in the office.
So what can you expect to find here in the coming days? We hope to provide you with content exclusive to the concerts and films we host at Calvin, such as excerpts from our “conversations with the artist,” photos from our events, and behind-the-scenes peeks into why we choose certain musicians to perform at Calvin (something that people always seem to be wondering). You’ll also hear from students who are putting hands, feet, eyes, and ears to discernment, changing the conversation in their residence halls—and beyond. Folks planning to attend our upcoming Festival of Faith and Music can check here for updates and articles related to the event. And if you glance over at the right-hand column, you’ll find links to some of our favorite places online—a great starting point if you’re curious what this whole “engaging culture” thing is all about.
So add us to your blogroll, why doncha—and check back soon for updates!
2 comments on "Is this thing on?"
So, let me get this straight. Humanity falls on a scale between PhD’s and ordinary people? ;)
Posted by Brandon on 03/15 at 02:53 PMKate, I’m glad to see you guys entering the World of Blogs. Can’t wait to see what the Cultural Discerners have to say.
Have you guys considered starting some Blogs in the popular locations, like Blogger or Xanga? That might be another good start for getting Calvin’s voice out there.
Posted by Remington on 03/09 at 09:46 AM
1 comment on "Rockin’ rev."
hey, good to see a blog up here, kate. also encouraging to see people around the country picking up on the artists featured at calvin… as a former CD i always thought that there was a huge audience for the type of music and discussion at calvin, but they’re just hidden and spread out, unaware of each other.