When I moved to Berkeley, I left behind a lot of things.  Some tangible, but many intangible and difficult to quantify.

One of those things was my band.  Hiatus was a large part of 5 years of my post-college life, and the things that God used those men and that band to disciple me about friendship and art are (hopefully) unforgettable.  But when I moved, I gave that up, and all of the plans that I had fashioned for us.

I was beginning to write a lot of music.  I pushed myself to put out a self-produced EP so that I could be faithful to what God and I were exploring musically.  I had a lot of plans as to what I could do with that material.  But when I moved, those plans got placed on a shelf.

But now that I’m here, I can’t stop writing.  It’s really amazing to me, because there isn’t much that has changed about me.  I still generally have the same internal struggles and insecurities as when I left, but there’s just a lot more coming out.

And what’s more, I’m in a band!  An R&B/funk/hip-hop band!  With people who love the same music that taught my 3 and 4 year-old self what music actually was!  Holy crap!

This, of course, has triggered my memory about all the artists that formed my musical tastes and taught me how to sing and play and listen to music.  And when good memories are triggered, the imagination is soon to follow.  (Non-sequitor: I think this is why God tells us to remember; perhaps intentionally reflecting on God’s past faithfulness gives Him permission to shape my imagination for the things that He’s about to do.)

And so my decision:
I need to write and sing R&B worship music.

To me, this is nothing short of preposterous.  As far as I know, nobody who means anything in the music world sees any link between R&B and church.  Most R&B fans think the art form’s major purpose is to be the soundtrack to babymaking, and most Christians (of all traditions) have been fed such average music, they wouldn’t know know what to do with crafted R&B.

But as strange as it sounds, it also makes perfect sense; I submit to you that R&B comes from a prophetic tradition and history.  What if it were the vehicle that could deliver a prophetic message to my America, criticizing us out of our slavery and idol-making and energizing us into radical generosity and loving the needy among us?

Saying all this was the (kinda) easy part.
The hard part: discerning when and how any of this is actually supposed to happen.

In the meantime, time to start writing…

Posted at 12:33am and tagged with: two column,.

I had an extremely interesting and invigorating conversation today with a member of my church and a local organizer.  We talked about many things, one of which ended up being this idea of house concerts.  Since my friend suggested this to me, I’ve been thinking and thinking about it.  It won’t escape me, and that’s a sign of something.

Tonight, I asked myself, “Is this even a good idea?”  I mean, it’s a reasonable question. If I’m never going to be on a big-time label, I need a way to share the music I write.  I need a way to artistically communicate with people.  And every time I imagine myself in a big stadium playing for thousands and thousands of people, it makes no sense.

Because I want to talk to the people listening to my music.
I want to see their faces.
And I want them to see the faces of the people listening along with them.

Here’s my attempt at answering my question.  It’s semi-mathematical, and not rigorous, but it’s an outline.  If ever I am called upon to complete it, I will.  But really, I’d rather just do it and tell you about it…anyway, here goes.

——————-

CLAIM: House concerts are a way for a community/family to experience music in a way that facilitates authentic and holistic transformation

Situation: a community and time in which God is revealed.
For every situation, there is an appropriate response to God’s revelation.

Good art is situational. Good music is situational; that is, good music is aware of the community and time in which it exists:

• Ps137.1-6: When that situation is lament.
• Ps 84.1: When that situation is longing.
• Ps40.1-3: When that situation is redemption.
• Ps 33.1-7: When that situation is remembrance.

One way to make art that accurately responds to a situation is to make that art accessible to the affected community.

Community = family = tribe (via Bryan Kim).
Families can loosely be characterized by 4 qualities…

• Values: The things that the family cares about in which it invests
• Ethic: The general governing behaviors of the family
• Discourse: An important subset of ethic, specifically focused on the family’s language
• Expression: The outpouring of the family’s experience, both original or representative

The things that happen in the house are what define and shape the family’s values, ethic, discourse, and expression.  A family’s exposure to situational art via the house concert can make space for God to transform the family, both its people and its function.

• SETTING: The venue in which you perform your music says a lot about your intentions as an artist, as well as the intentions of your art.  The house setting is crucial because it implies that the artist wants to be seen and heard, and that the artist wants their art to be seen and heard.
• CONVERSATION: The house setting also implies a level of actual human interaction among the attendees; the discourse of the evening is actually important to the evening itself.
• THEME: Each concert needs to have a theme that is relevant to the artist, community, or (ideally) both that frames the music and (at least part of) the conversation.
• MONEY: The artist should be compensated for the work that they do in creating the art and visioning for the space.   But, the community that is gathered to receive the art should also be able to use the evening to invest in something in which they have (or want to have) relational and monetary capital (a non-profit organization, individuals that are in need, a special project, etc.).
• HOSPITALITY: The setting is not a formality.  There are elements of hospitality that are possible in a house that aren’t possible in a theatre, arena, etc.  There should be great food, interesting ambience, and people making sure that every individual is comfortable.

At the end of the day, if art is received in the right spaces with the right people, I believe that transformation is imminent.   Too much attention is placed on the aesthetics of the art instead of the details of how it is received.  It’s really easy to make art that makes people like you.  But the artists who desire to have their art transcend themselves can’t just make good art.  We have to place good art in good spaces.

Posted at 3:50pm and tagged with: two column,.