A Fond Farewell
Well, I guess it's probably time to update again, since it's been over two months. And, no, the farewell is not for my blog, as most of you probably were hoping. :-) That day may come sometime, but for now, I'll continue to bore you to tears for at least one more post.
So.......Read on, brave souls!!
I recently had the bittersweet privelege to see a DVD recorded during Petra's "Farewell" tour in December 2005. It was sweet because it was a really good concert, and bitter because it is very sad (at least in my opinion) to see such a great band end their 33-year career.
For those of you who don't know who Petra is, they were one of the original contemporary christian/christian rock bands back in the early '70's. (And, no, I don't believe that the term "christian rock music" is necessarily a paradox, but that's another subject for another day. Maybe an idea for another post?) I would consider Petra a true "Christian" band because their songs were always solidly Bible based and always had some depth to them (though not necessarily flowery like hymns). They also never made any effort (at least to my knowledge) to achieve any secular recognition, and, in so doing, watered down the messages of their songs to appeal to a wider audience. In fact, during the time when they were the most popular, they had opportunities to sign secular record deals, but turned them down because it would have meant leaving God out of their message. They also received some secular recognition for being "a group of christian guys who happens to play rock" instead of "a rock band who happens to be christian".
They were reasonably popular through the late '70's and early '80's, but they really took off in 1986 when Singer John Schlitt joined the band and the dropped the synthesized sound that the had been doing for a more guitar-oriented sound, which they, at least for the most part, kept until their final album, though the sound varied some as musical styles changed in popularity.
However, the thing that has impressed me the most about Petra's music has been the songs. From the early recordings of the '70's, up untill 2003's Jekyll & Hyde, all of their songs (with the exception of the rather immature "God Gave Rock & Roll To You" of the late '70's) have been very Biblically based and have a level of depth and meaning to them that has escaped a large portion of christian music of all styles.
There are so many songs (mostly written by guitarist Bob Hartman) that have encouraged and blessed me over the years- Beyond Belief, Love, Prayer, Sight Unseen, Hey World, It Is Finished, The Coloring Song, Fool's Gold, Back To The Street, Praying Man, Believer In Deed, Marks Of The Cross, Just Reach Out, He's Been In My Shoes, Seen And Not Heard, What's In A Name, Somebody's Gonna Praise His Name, He Came, He Saw, He Conquered, Hit You Where You Live, No Doubt, All The King's Horses, This Means War, King's Ransom, Whole World, Shakin' The House, Mine Field, In The Likeness Of You, Alter Ego, Jekyll & Hyde, Strong Convictions, Creed, The Test Of Time, Sacred Trust, St. Augustine's Pears, If I Had To Die For Someone, The Longing, Hollow Eyes, Beat The System, You Are I Am, Counsel Of The Holy, Clean, First Love, Don't Let Your Heart Be Hardened-Just to name a few right off the top of my head. (I typed out all those names one right after the other without looking at any cd track lists.) Some are simpler than others, some more profound, some catchier, some more thought-provoking, but all of those and many more have encouraged me spiritually over the years.
In fact, the dvd included two songs from the Jekyll & Hyde cd that I had never heard before and really appreciated. I had not acquired the Jekyll & Hyde cd because it's more modern and "heavy" sounding than their previous music and I didn't like the musical style as much, but, after seeing the dvd, I bought the cd for those two songs. However, the last song on that cd (their last studio recording) really caught my attention. It's called "Sacred Trust" It talks about how Jesus never tried to win secular appeal, watered down His message, or skirt around issues. He simply spoke the truth in love faithfully. He expects no less from us, and has given us the "Sacred Trust" to take His Word to the world. Very sobering and thought-provoking. And (I thought) very appropriate to be the final studio recorded song from a band that never compromised the message of their songs to try to appeal to a wider audience and be more successful. I wish more christian artists were as dedicated.
Anyway, Petra, you will be sadly missed, though your songs will still bring encouragement to many as long as they are available.
Also, in other news, we just returned from Young Married's camp, where a good time was had by all. Karissa was EXTREMELY sociable with other grownups, particularly Lyndon & Rhonda. She wanted to be held by them both, though mostly by Lyndon, and even followed him up to the pavillion from the bunkrooms while I was cleaning up. That's a kind of nice change, although it's kind of scary that she's so willing to go to strangers now.
We got home and I put Karissa in her crib for a nap (she went to sleep on the way home), and a couple of hours later, we heard a loud noise over the monitor and figured that she was probably awake. I went in to get her up and discovered that she had managed to get the laundry basket that sits next to her crib into the crib and was sitting in it. Very cute! I did get a picture, but this post is taking way too long already, so I won't take the time to upload it. (I type VERY slowly)
I also played a really active sport for the first time since I broke my leg. (September 30, '06) I did play a not-very-active game of volleyball at a young married's activity a month or so ago, but it wasn't terribly active, so I didn't count it.
And, in video game news, I have finished Army Men RTS, played through Chicken Little:Ace In Action for the Wii (basically a much shorter, Chicken Little-themed version of Ratchet & Clank), and have been enjoying the real reason I wanted a Wii to begin with- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It's the third and final chapter in the Metroid Prime series and, it's as well-made as the previous two. It's got an incredible amount of detail and depth in it-The developers managed to create entire worlds for you to explore that are beautiful and life-like. Very enjoyable.
I have also sold one of my guitars and purchased another that I am very pleased with. It's a transparent blue Dillion DR590. It's a Korean-made guitar that's kind of across between a Gibson Les Paul and a Paul Reed Smith guitar with P-90 single-coil pickups. Very Nice.
I also got a small practice amp that can be played very quietly or with headphones, which makes Renee very happy. It's a Vox AD30VT Valvetronics modeling amp. It's a tube hybrid with 11 amp models and a handful of effects built in. It is very capable of sounding like a cheap solid-state amp, but it can also produce some very nice, reasonably "tubey" tones as well. Very cool.
Well, I guess it's time to bring this very long post to an end. That's been the news from my life for the last couple of months.
So, for another two months.....
So.......Read on, brave souls!!
I recently had the bittersweet privelege to see a DVD recorded during Petra's "Farewell" tour in December 2005. It was sweet because it was a really good concert, and bitter because it is very sad (at least in my opinion) to see such a great band end their 33-year career.
For those of you who don't know who Petra is, they were one of the original contemporary christian/christian rock bands back in the early '70's. (And, no, I don't believe that the term "christian rock music" is necessarily a paradox, but that's another subject for another day. Maybe an idea for another post?) I would consider Petra a true "Christian" band because their songs were always solidly Bible based and always had some depth to them (though not necessarily flowery like hymns). They also never made any effort (at least to my knowledge) to achieve any secular recognition, and, in so doing, watered down the messages of their songs to appeal to a wider audience. In fact, during the time when they were the most popular, they had opportunities to sign secular record deals, but turned them down because it would have meant leaving God out of their message. They also received some secular recognition for being "a group of christian guys who happens to play rock" instead of "a rock band who happens to be christian".
They were reasonably popular through the late '70's and early '80's, but they really took off in 1986 when Singer John Schlitt joined the band and the dropped the synthesized sound that the had been doing for a more guitar-oriented sound, which they, at least for the most part, kept until their final album, though the sound varied some as musical styles changed in popularity.
However, the thing that has impressed me the most about Petra's music has been the songs. From the early recordings of the '70's, up untill 2003's Jekyll & Hyde, all of their songs (with the exception of the rather immature "God Gave Rock & Roll To You" of the late '70's) have been very Biblically based and have a level of depth and meaning to them that has escaped a large portion of christian music of all styles.
There are so many songs (mostly written by guitarist Bob Hartman) that have encouraged and blessed me over the years- Beyond Belief, Love, Prayer, Sight Unseen, Hey World, It Is Finished, The Coloring Song, Fool's Gold, Back To The Street, Praying Man, Believer In Deed, Marks Of The Cross, Just Reach Out, He's Been In My Shoes, Seen And Not Heard, What's In A Name, Somebody's Gonna Praise His Name, He Came, He Saw, He Conquered, Hit You Where You Live, No Doubt, All The King's Horses, This Means War, King's Ransom, Whole World, Shakin' The House, Mine Field, In The Likeness Of You, Alter Ego, Jekyll & Hyde, Strong Convictions, Creed, The Test Of Time, Sacred Trust, St. Augustine's Pears, If I Had To Die For Someone, The Longing, Hollow Eyes, Beat The System, You Are I Am, Counsel Of The Holy, Clean, First Love, Don't Let Your Heart Be Hardened-Just to name a few right off the top of my head. (I typed out all those names one right after the other without looking at any cd track lists.) Some are simpler than others, some more profound, some catchier, some more thought-provoking, but all of those and many more have encouraged me spiritually over the years.
In fact, the dvd included two songs from the Jekyll & Hyde cd that I had never heard before and really appreciated. I had not acquired the Jekyll & Hyde cd because it's more modern and "heavy" sounding than their previous music and I didn't like the musical style as much, but, after seeing the dvd, I bought the cd for those two songs. However, the last song on that cd (their last studio recording) really caught my attention. It's called "Sacred Trust" It talks about how Jesus never tried to win secular appeal, watered down His message, or skirt around issues. He simply spoke the truth in love faithfully. He expects no less from us, and has given us the "Sacred Trust" to take His Word to the world. Very sobering and thought-provoking. And (I thought) very appropriate to be the final studio recorded song from a band that never compromised the message of their songs to try to appeal to a wider audience and be more successful. I wish more christian artists were as dedicated.
Anyway, Petra, you will be sadly missed, though your songs will still bring encouragement to many as long as they are available.
Also, in other news, we just returned from Young Married's camp, where a good time was had by all. Karissa was EXTREMELY sociable with other grownups, particularly Lyndon & Rhonda. She wanted to be held by them both, though mostly by Lyndon, and even followed him up to the pavillion from the bunkrooms while I was cleaning up. That's a kind of nice change, although it's kind of scary that she's so willing to go to strangers now.
We got home and I put Karissa in her crib for a nap (she went to sleep on the way home), and a couple of hours later, we heard a loud noise over the monitor and figured that she was probably awake. I went in to get her up and discovered that she had managed to get the laundry basket that sits next to her crib into the crib and was sitting in it. Very cute! I did get a picture, but this post is taking way too long already, so I won't take the time to upload it. (I type VERY slowly)
I also played a really active sport for the first time since I broke my leg. (September 30, '06) I did play a not-very-active game of volleyball at a young married's activity a month or so ago, but it wasn't terribly active, so I didn't count it.
And, in video game news, I have finished Army Men RTS, played through Chicken Little:Ace In Action for the Wii (basically a much shorter, Chicken Little-themed version of Ratchet & Clank), and have been enjoying the real reason I wanted a Wii to begin with- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It's the third and final chapter in the Metroid Prime series and, it's as well-made as the previous two. It's got an incredible amount of detail and depth in it-The developers managed to create entire worlds for you to explore that are beautiful and life-like. Very enjoyable.
I have also sold one of my guitars and purchased another that I am very pleased with. It's a transparent blue Dillion DR590. It's a Korean-made guitar that's kind of across between a Gibson Les Paul and a Paul Reed Smith guitar with P-90 single-coil pickups. Very Nice.
I also got a small practice amp that can be played very quietly or with headphones, which makes Renee very happy. It's a Vox AD30VT Valvetronics modeling amp. It's a tube hybrid with 11 amp models and a handful of effects built in. It is very capable of sounding like a cheap solid-state amp, but it can also produce some very nice, reasonably "tubey" tones as well. Very cool.
Well, I guess it's time to bring this very long post to an end. That's been the news from my life for the last couple of months.
So, for another two months.....
posted by Jason Martin at 6:36 PM
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