It’s been a good couple of days. Yesterday I got to sample gator at the famous (or not-so-famous) Black Hammock with Paul. Neither of us had experienced the Hammock before, and found it sadly devoid of bikers. It’s only about 10 minutes away from campus, and yet it feels like you’re in the complete boondocks. It’s a cultural experience, they say. Our lunch was accumpanied by a great assortment of old Southern Rock hits over the radio, while throwing in some Nickel Creek as well. It was a also a great chance to compare notes with Paul on worship leading, counseling, and life in general. I miss getting to play music with him each week, but I’m glad our friendship is continuing. We also ran into Jeff and Eva, who were also having their first experience of the big bad BH. My personal take: fried gator is actually very good, and well water isn’t all that bad, but I can see why some people hate it.
Last night Seth organized a big party with the UPC college students at our place. It was craziness. A definite reminder that I’m not in college anymore. I like to lie to myself and think that I’m still 20 or 22, but these kids have a ton more energy and enthusiasm than I do now. For a night, it was exciting and fun. It also tells me I need to be praying for Ande more often. At one point, I pulled out my guitar, we lit a ton of candles, and we sang a ton of old cover songs. Thomas had his camcorder going, so we might try to upload some of it on youtube later (like I said, I pretend I’m still young). The best is that Thomas was singing along, and so most of what you hear is him. It’s hilarious.
Speaking of UPC, I’ve had the great pleasure the past few weeks of playing in chapel with Jonathan Noel, who is the worship leader over there. The guy is a great piano player, and has a really soothing voice that is just nice to listen to. He’s played with tons of great artists, like Andrew Peterson, Fernando Ortega, Margaret Becker, and Jars of Clay. It’s been a huge honor to collaborate with him on Wednesday mornings, and stay sharp by playing with a guy who’s on the top of his game. That and he’s a really nice guy to boot, which is a huge plus. We’ve also got Chris from Orangewood back at the board, who is amazingly intuitive and easy to work with. The value of a good sound guy should never be underestimated. And he’s got a cute little baby who’s going to kill him later for all the naked pictures that daddy keeps showing everyone.
Today I get to play a little piano for the pre-reception at Jill’s wedding. Basically, that means that I meander around 5 or 6 songs and chord progressions while a bunch of people mill into the room before dinner. I’ll try to throw in some Richard Marx and Michael W. Smith just to see if people are listening. It’ll mostly be just improv tho, where half the time I’ll forget what chord I’m currenty playing. Then I get a free dinner and mack on some bridesmaids like Owen Wilson. Well, not so much on that last part, cuz that movie was actually pretty gross and had a paper-thin plot. But free dinner is always good.
Random side note: I recently got a new edition of Eugene Petersons’ The Message paraphrase. One of my little quibs (quib?) about paraphrase projects like this is that they’re just one guy, typically working from the English, adding liberal doses of his own interpretation on the words of scripture. I was quite surprised to read on the back of the Bible that, not only is Peterson himself a former prof of Greek and Hebrew, but he had his work edited by a good number of scholars. Names like Peter Enns (WTS), Duane Garrett (Gordon Conwell), Tremper Longman, Darrell Bock, Moises Silva (!), and even RTS’ former prof Richard Pratt. Cool stuff.
Another cool thing is that Daniela recently released her CD of original hymns. I’ve been listening to the acoustic demos that she did for a while now, and there are some really good songs on here. I look forwad to hearing the full band arrangements. I think I was supposed to play mandolin on this project at some point, but that never actually happened, which is a little disappointing. Speaking of CDs I wish I played on, the new Red Mountain CD is a recent addition to my collection. These guys continue to amaze. This is the perfect CD for when you need a good spiritual cry. I can’t believe I just typed that last sentence. Damn counseling program, making me all weepy all the time.