Reformissionary

Music Monday 11.29.10

• $1.99 Albums (ENDS TODAY): Whole List | Don't Miss: Arcade Fire: The Suburbs | The XX: xx | The National: High Violet
• $5 Albums for November (ENDS TOMORROW): My Favorites | 20 Christmas albums, 8 greatest hits & 20 albums from bands like Arcade Fire, The Weepies, Radiohead & Brandi Carlile.
• Daytrotter: Via Audio | S. Carey

Pay what you want for Dunham Van Durham's Christmas album, Christmas From the Heartland. That's my photo on the cover. And seriously, we really enjoy the album each Christmas in our home. You need to check it out, stream it, download it.

Bradford Cox of Deerhunter/Atlas Sound offers four albums of demos for FREE: Atlas Sound Bedroom Database. I've heard about a dozen songs and I'm loving it. Atlas Sound: Logos is one of my favorite albums to listen to while working ($8.99).

I shouldn't have to say how fantastic The Suburbs by Arcade Fire is. It's outstanding. Did you know you can get it today for $1.99? Yeah. Also Neon Bible is $5.99 & Funeral is $5. Here's the Spike Jonze directed video for "The Suburbs," which visualizes a very near, dark future for the burbs.

I just love the Bing Crosby/David Bowie TV duet of "Little Drummer Boy." Get Bing Crosby: I Wish You A Merry Christmas today only for $1.99. White Christmas is only $3.99. Awesome.

Atlas Sound Bedroom Databank

Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and Atlas Sound has released for four free albums worth of demos: Atlas Sound Bedroom Databank.

Download links (via his blog)...

Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3 | Volume 4

Amazon Black Friday Music Deals 2

Here are the hottest Black Friday music deals still going as of 9am on Saturday, plus a few extra audio related things. "Lightning Deals" could be done in minutes, so go now. For these the price looks like the old price until you go to pay and will see the lightning deal discount. Other prices are good until Amazon takes them down. Tons of stuff I love here.

* = means I may not recommend, but I know some would like to know the deal is out there

MP3 Downloads (most $1.99!)...

• The National: High Violet
• Arcade Fire: The Suburbs
• The XX: xx
• LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening
• Fistful of Mercy: As I Call You Down (Ben Harper, Joseph Arthur, Dhani Harrison)
• The 99 Most Essential Violin Masterpieces ($2.49)
• The 99 Most Essential Christmas Masterpieces
• John Lennon: Power to the People - The Hits
• Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon
• The Walkmen: Lisbon
• Spoon: Transference
• The 99 Darkest Pieces of Classical Music
• Mavis Staples: You Are Not Alone
• The Roots: How I Got Over
• Train: Save Me, San Francisco*
• Jack Johnson: In Between Dreams*
• John Mayer: Battle Studies*
• Sara Bareilles: Kaleidoscope Heart*
• Robert Plant: Band of Joy*

CDs...

• Gorillaz: Plastic Beach ($5.99, lightning deal)
• Vampire Weekend: Contra ($4.99, lightning deal)

Other audio related items...

• Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10 Noise-Isolating Earphones ($94.99 was $399.99)
• Shure SE420 EFS Sound-Isolating Earphones ($149.99 was $199.00, lightning deal)
• Beats by Dre Tour High-Resolution In-Ear Headphones by Monster ($121.56 was 149.99)

Phriday is for Photos 11.26.10

Danny in a waiting room while Molly was getting an MRI. It was on the 2nd floor overlooking a bunch of people working out at a sports medicine facility & gym. | My photography.

Amazon Black Friday Music Deals

Hurry up and grab up some of these great music deals on Amazon for $1.99. Some of these prices could end at any time, so don't hesitate.

• Vampire Weekend: Contra 
• Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings: I Learned the Hard Way
• The 99 Most Essential Violin Masterpieces
• The 99 Most Essential Christmas Masterpieces
• Creedence Clearwater Revival: Chronicle (20 songs)
• Gorillaz: Plastic Beach
• Belle and Sebastian: Write About Love
• KT Tunstall: Tiger Suit
• John Legend & The Roots: Wake Up

For My Wife, On Her Birthday

Why is this for my wife? Because it's about a love relationship in which both poetic beauty and humor are abundant. I love you, Molly. Learn more about Billy Collins.

Music Monday 11.22.10

• Hot Deals: Michael Bublé: Let It Snow w/ bonus live track | 99 Most Essential Christmas Masterpieces ($1.99)
• $5 Albums for November: All my favorites | Don't Miss 5: Classic Sinatra: His Great Performances 1953-1960 | Arcade Fire: Funeral | Brandi Carlile: The Story | Ra Ra Riot: The Orchard | Dark Night of the Soul
• Streaming: loving William Tyler: Behold the Spirit
• Daytrotter: Alejandro Escovedo

I'm guessing no one would think I'd talk about Robyn's music. I don't own any of it, though her album, Body Talk, is only $3.99 today (Pitchfork 8.5/10). But I've seen her live performance of "Dancing On My Own" several times now and just love it. It's what pop music can be at its best. It has to be easy. Nothing complicated. And it hits some emotion or feeling. She puts you in a relationship scenario: She hears her old boyfriend has a new girlfriend and she needs to see for herself. So she goes to the club and is dancing and watching them together, wondering why he doesn't notice her. It's energy. It's pain and loneliness, but it's strength and healing. Don't just listen, watch. It's a great performance unlike much in the world of pop music. 

I found Eisley a long time ago. Their music is a joy, full of striking melodies and harmonies. It's at times soothing, yet often haunting. They recently played at my favorite venue in Milwaukee and I came across this video. Check out "Telescope Eyes" from Room Noises.

Delta Spirit: Bushwick Blues

Molly and I are seeing Delta Spirit tomorrow night in Milwaukee at the Turner Hall Ballroom. We saw them this Spring and just loved the show, busting with energy. Now I can't wait for songs like the new, slowed down version of "Bushwick Blues" found on their new EP...

Delta Spirit "Bushwick Blues" (Waits Room Version) from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Jesus: Sea-Blue Eyes & Really White Teeth

Coming Attractions 11.18.10

Here are a few things in the works...

1. Ads: You can see that I'm gearing up for some advertising on the right sidebar. I've thought about it for a long time & had some advertisers express some interest. I'm going to give it a go. It would be financially helpful for my family during tight times. If you are interested, click on an "Advertise Here" link. 

2. Links: I also want to add that whenever you see a link of mine to a book or music on Amazon with the Reformissiona-20 tag on it, that means I get a small cut for recommending it. It adds nothing to your cost. It's the same as if you went straight to Amazon. Essentially by buying products with my link you get same good price and help supply my book budget. I have no other book budget than this. Thanks for supporting it. And I work very hard not to just point you to anything in the hope of making some cash. I skip over recommending many deals that I don't personally want to recommended.

3. Reviews: I have reviews coming on Tim Keller's new book, Generous Justice, and Jim Elliff's reworking of Pursuing God. Both are great. Hope to get to both very soon.

4. Writing Projects: I have several blog articles in the works that have been fermenting for a while and that I'm excited about. I want to get a regular schedule for posting articles in the next couple of weeks. Look for that. I'm saying it publicly so I feel guilty if I don't get it started. :)

5. Phriday is for Photos: I haven't been very active in photography lately, but I'm also planning on getting it kicking again. 

6. Molly: I know it doesn't seem like a very cool "coming attraction," but expect more soon about my wife's battle with Chiari I Malformation. The blog has helped her to connect and minister to many women who are suffering the same things and scared. 

7. Tim Keller Resources: It's been a while since I seriously worked on my TK Resource page. Without doing anything a few things there look broken. I hope to get it back in shape for your resourcing pleasure.

Tim Keller: Urban Plant Life PDFs

Here are PDF's of talks Tim Keller gave at the Urban Plant Life conference in London a couple of years ago. You can also check out the audio/video or grab the podcast. But having documents you can print and search is very helpful. Thanks to @BradAndrews for the heads-up.

1. Gospel Renewal
2. Church & Culture
3. Contextual & Missional
4. Gospel Theology
5. Integrative Ministry
6. Gospel Preaching
7. Gospel Theology
8. Movement Dynamics
9. Church Planting

(original location)

Mascot Beatdown

This is why you never mess with a mascot.

Arcade Fire on SNL

Arcade Fire played SNL again, and were great. Here's "We Used To Wait" & "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)." By the way, the worst thing about Arcade Fire, and maybe the only bad thing, is Win Butlers hair. Truth in love.

 

Music Monday 11.15.10

• Hot Deals: Caedmon's Call: Raising Up the Dead ($3.99) - listening now and like it | The 99 Most Essential Christmas Masterpieces ($1.99)
• $5 Albums: All my favorites (includes several Christmas albums) | Don't Miss 5: S. Carey: All We Grow | Radiohead: The Bends | Metric: Fantasies | Caribou: Swim | Wolf Parade: Expo 86
• Daytrotter: The Black Angels | Peter Wolf Crier
• Streaming: William Tyler: Behold the Spirit - acoustic guitar, lush | Agalloch: Marrow of the Spirit - don't freak out, but this may not be your style of music

Jónsi was on Fallon playing "Sticks & Stones" from the soundtrack of How To Train Your Dragon. His album, Go, is more of the same beauty & awesomeness.  

I've thoroughly enjoyed (and reviewed!) Miranda Dodson's album, Change A Thing. New music popped up recently on YouTube from Miranda and I've been looking forward to passing it on to you. Here's "They Will Write a Book." I dig it.

Tim Keller: God's Global Urban Mission

From Lausanne Cape Town 2010 Tim Keller's message "What is God's global urban mission?" is now up on video.

What is God’s Global Urban Mission? from Redeemer City to City on Vimeo.

Fotoweek D.C. 2010

A great little video on Fotoweek D.C. 2010. I love photography even more because of stuff like this.

Phriday is for Photos

Not my photo. Our local paper, the Northwest Herald, caught Elijah (10) reading in the school library. Great photo of a great kid.

Tim Keller: Day Conference

In October there was a Day Conference with Tim Keller in Johannesburg at Rosebank Union Church. All the audio is online. 

• Session 1: The Priority of Churches
• Session 2: Urban Churches & Contextualization
• Session 3: Gospel and Culture
• Session 4: Q and A
• Session 5: Evening City Celebration

Keller: It Takes A Movement To Change A City

Check out the talk by Tim Keller, It Takes A Movement To Change A City, from Movement Day. You can right click to save/download it. The Movement Day website also has talks by Bill Hybels, Ray Bakke & Brenda Salter McNeil.

Molly Update 11.9.10

It's been a long time since I gave an update on Molly, mostly because there has been nothing new. She has been great. That started to change a month ago. 

Over the last month Molly started to experience small, though not insignificant symptoms from Chiari. Read all the old posts on Molly & Chiari. Or check out an initial post from 2007 on what Chiari I Malmformation is.) On Friday she woke with a massive headache that caused her to vomit most of the day. Late Friday that was done, but other symptoms began and were full-on. She easily loses her balance, struggles to finish thoughts (brain fog), gets easily overwhelmed, has significant muscle weakness and some numbness in her arms and legs, and more. It's been consistently bad since Friday.

That's not a long time, and she has dealt with some symptoms from time to time and had them subside. That happened last year. But it hasn't been this bad since before her last brain surgery. We still are hoping and praying for the symptoms to go away, but they are bad enough that contacting Molly's doctor was necessary.

I emailed Molly's doctor, Dr. David Frim, at the University of Chicago Hospital. He responded today and said that it's time to initiate another evaluation. We are waiting for his assistant to respond and, we assume, make an appointment for us at U of C. We don't know anything about what tests that may require (MRI, spinal tap, etc). 

We have prayed for the symptoms/problem to go away, but were talking today about how God's power will be made perfect through her weakness (2 Cor 12). I'm assuming that's why she wanted me to use the above graphic for this post. :)

I'll post more when we have more info. If anyone can pray, please pray for God to be glorified through this, and to be merciful to Molly.

Also, if you can, pray for me as I will be spending a significant amount of time with her as she is losing ability to be out of the house for an extended period of time on her own. We ran errands on Monday and I don't think she could have done it without me there. This is on top of tough times in our church where money is tight and I'm busier than I've ever been. This is going to put significant strain on our family and we need His strength for all of it.

Thanks friends. We appreciate you.

Wholeheartedness - Antidote to Exhaustion

“The antidote to exhaustion is not rest but wholeheartedness.” David Whyte

Read this very helpful post by Chuck DeGroat on wholeheartedness & integrity: "What's wrong with your pastor?" This post will be helpful for pastors and all Christians. Outstanding.

The quote comes from David Whyte's book, Crossing the Unknown Sea, which is now in my Amazon cart.

Music Monday 11.8.10

It's a glorious Music Monday at Reformissionary. Let me throw some gems at you.

• Hot Deals: The 99 Most Essential Christmas Masterpieces ($1.99) | Florence + The Machine: Lungs ($3.99) | Teenage Fanclub: Bandwagonesque ($3.99) | The 99 Darkest Pieces of Classical Music ($1.99) | Band of Horses: Everything All The Time ($3.99)
• $5 Albums: Reformissionary Recommendations for November | Don't Miss 5: Brandi Carlile: The Story | Ra Ra Riot: The Orchard | Fang Island: Fang Island | Dark Night of the Soul | Arcade Fire: Funeral
• Streaming: Pickins is slim this week, but don't miss the excellent Bruce Springsteen: The Promise (The Lost Sessions: Darkness on the Edge of Town)
• Also: You really need to check out Her Name Is Calla. Download The Quiet Lamb. I know I've been mentioning it like every week, but you need it every week. You are welcome. And go download for free Kernal Garner's new song, "Homicide." Love it.

I highly recommend Derek Webb's new album, Feedback. It "an instrumental electronic album based on the Lord's Prayer." I think you'll like it. It's creative & beautiful.

A discovery from the last couple of months has been Dark Dark Dark. I first heard of them via Daytrotter's free download from last month (also grab September 2009 & March 2009 sessions). Their newest album, Wild Go, is great. I'll soon be downloading all their stuff because of songs I've found from previous albums (Bright Bright Bright | The Snow Magic) like "Wild Goose Chase." Enjoy...

Music Monday 11.1.10

• Daytrotter FREE: Blitzen Trapper | Tokyo Police Club | Freelance Whales
• $5 Albums: All new list of November $5 albums
• Deals: The Roots: Things Fall Apart ($3.99) | The 99 Darkest Pieces of Classical Music ($1.99) | Stars: The Five Ghosts ($3.99) | 99 Most Essential Mendelssohn Masterpieces ($2.49) | Florence + The Machine: Lungs ($3.99)
• Streaming Albums: Bruce Springsteen: The Promise (The Lost Sessions: Darkness on the Edge of Town) | Andrew Bird: Useless Creatures | Matt & Kim: Sidewalks | An Introduction to Elliott Smith

You can listen to the entire new album by Her Name Is Calla today: The Quiet Lamb. Check it out, buy & download it. This band and this album should be on your radar, especially if you are into post-rock. But check it out no matter what you like. So good.

Brent Thomas loves him some Drew Grow & The Pastor's Wives.

Another new discovery is Hey Marseilles. I'm loving their album, To Travels and Trunks. I think you will too. Check out their Tiny Desk Concert. 

The Tallest Man on Earth: The Wild Hunt is a great album. You should check it out. To convince you, here's "Like the Wheel"...

$5 Albums for November

Another month, another great list of $5 albums from Amazon. Here are certified, high-quality Reformissionary Recommendations...

• Arcade Fire: Funeral | one of my fav albums ever
• Brandi Carlile: The Story | personal/family fav
• Ra Ra Riot: The Orchard | a great album
• Dark Night of the Soul | Sparklehorse + Danger Mouse = great
• S. Carey: All We Grow | Bon Iver band member, really good
• Radiohead: The Bends | a must-have album
• Metric: Fantasies | love this album, gets you movin'
• Caribou: Swim | Pitchfork 8.4/10
• Fang Island: Fang Island | Pitchfork 8.3/10
• Wolf Parade: Expo 86 | their most accessible album, & it's good
• Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma | Pitchfork 8.8/10
• Menomena: Mines | Pitchfork 8.2/10
• The Weepies: Be My Thrill | weepy, & great
• Regina Spektor: Soviet Kitsch | whatta voice
• Billy Joel: The Stranger | classic Billy Joel
• Pink Floyd: A Momentary Lapse of Reason | it's Pink Floyd
• Neil Young: On The Beach (Reissue) | it's Neil Young
• Classic Sinatra: His Great Performances 1953-1960 | amazing
• Gogol Bordello: Trans-Continental Hustle | unique &, uh, unique
• John Mayer: Room For Squares | some GREAT songs

**Other albums worth mentioning, though they aren't all my cup of tea...

Greatest Hits

• The Cars
• Pat Benatar
• Chicago
• Steve Miller Band
• Jackson Browne
• Hank Williams, Jr
• Otis Redding

Christmas Albums

• Third Day: Christmas Offerings
• Casting Crowns: Peace On Earth
• The Hotel Cafe Presents...Winter Songs
• Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
• Tony Bennett: A Swingin' Christmas
• Celene Dion: These Are Special Times
• Martina McBride: White Christmas
• James Taylor At Christmas
• Faith Hill: Joy To The World
• Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas
• John Denver: Rocky Mountain Christmas
• Elvis Presley: Christmas Duets
• Michael W. Smith: It's A Wonderful Christmas
• 50 Classical Christmas Favorites
• Bob Dylan: Christmas In The Heart
• Harry Connick, Jr: Harry For The Holidays
• Chris Botti: December
• Barry Manilow: In The Swing Of Christmas
• Twisted Sister: A Twisted Christmas | so awful it's a must-hear