Next to the Bible, this may be the most important book I've ever read. I really do think that a hundred years from now, church historians will be writing about this man and this book.
This book solved all my epistemological crises. It also does much to resolve the tension Christians feel as the culture around them becomes increasingly post modern. Every emergent so and so should read this immediately. So should anyone who wrestles with certainty or asks if truth is knowable at all.
I better stop typing now. You all have got some reading to do.
12.5.05
The earth is hard, the treasure fine.
My wife recently alphabatized our cd collection (which is no small feat) and so I've had the renewed pleasure of browsing through my own forgotten treasures. I thought perhaps I'd feature a forgotten classic or two from time to time.
This album is so good, and has such a special place in my heart I can't even find the words to describe it. It is simply a masterpiece. Many of you who hear it for the first time may disagree. I fully admit that I cannot divorce the memories formed around this of this album from the music itself. So I will not try. The two are fused forever in my psyche. If you don't own it, don't bother looking for it. It's been out of print for years and anyone who has it is not likely to give it up.
If anyone remembers this album, please leave your comments. I'm interested to know how your opinion of it has changed over the years. I'll be surprised if even two of you out there have ever listened to it.
Gene Eugene, Adam Again's lead singer and songwriter helped engineer Over the Rhine's third album "Eve" and is listed in teh liner notes under his real name, Gene Andrusco. Here's part of an essay about Gene.
"Gene's music was intensely personal, and this combined with genius is what turned many of his listeners into fanatics. I am convinced that Adam Again fans were Adam Again fans at least in part because to some degree they identified with his struggles, disappointments, and rare glimpses of peace and joy. His embrace of fragile humanity, with its many faults, led to extremely sensitive and insightful work. He may not have been a friend, but to many of us, he was a comrade, a fellow traveler who understood our tough journey more than many of our personal friends ever could. He saw what we saw; he knew the earth is largely an open sore. Like Mark Heard, he faced much rejection for painting pictures of the world as he knew it, not as he wanted it to be.
Some find this depressing. Fine. Some see a nicer place outside their window, and Gene's music is a grim intrusion upon that view. For most of us, however, Gene inspired in ways 'inspirational' music is impotent to inspire. Gene sang of our stupid, useless world, its loveless limits, and its wounded citizens that wound in return for past pains (ourselves included), yet Gene also had the courage to declare that he wasn't going to simply sit back and watch it all crumble around him. He was going to dig for something of value under the dung around him. This die-hard determination, and yes, this faith that something of value MUST lie underneath the ruins, this is what I believe inspired so many of us fans and lifted us like so little could.
As I mentioned, his death was about a year ago Tuesday. Adam Again is still much too obscure to even be considered a cult band, and most of their recordings are now out of print. It is probable that history will march on over Gene's grave without even noticing his headstone.
It's our loss."
And here are some lyrics from Dig...
I had a big idea, I had a lazy eye
I broke the sacred seal, I told a crazy lie
I've had my conscience bent, I've had my patience tried
I've been down in the desert and up by the riverside
Will the eagle fly if the sky's untrue?
Do the faithful sigh because they are so few?
Remeber when I cried? Remember when you knew?
Remember the look in your eyes? I know I do
And count the stars to measure time, the earth is hard, the treasure fine
To the sea I'll crawl on my knees
Feel it coming in, Feel it going out
Water covers sand, blood covers doubt
So I begin again, Again the healing bow
There was a time I might have surrendered, but not now
To the sea I'll crawl on my knees
To the sea I'll crawl on my knees
At the sea, I'll wait on my knees.
This album is so good, and has such a special place in my heart I can't even find the words to describe it. It is simply a masterpiece. Many of you who hear it for the first time may disagree. I fully admit that I cannot divorce the memories formed around this of this album from the music itself. So I will not try. The two are fused forever in my psyche. If you don't own it, don't bother looking for it. It's been out of print for years and anyone who has it is not likely to give it up.
If anyone remembers this album, please leave your comments. I'm interested to know how your opinion of it has changed over the years. I'll be surprised if even two of you out there have ever listened to it.
Gene Eugene, Adam Again's lead singer and songwriter helped engineer Over the Rhine's third album "Eve" and is listed in teh liner notes under his real name, Gene Andrusco. Here's part of an essay about Gene.
"Gene's music was intensely personal, and this combined with genius is what turned many of his listeners into fanatics. I am convinced that Adam Again fans were Adam Again fans at least in part because to some degree they identified with his struggles, disappointments, and rare glimpses of peace and joy. His embrace of fragile humanity, with its many faults, led to extremely sensitive and insightful work. He may not have been a friend, but to many of us, he was a comrade, a fellow traveler who understood our tough journey more than many of our personal friends ever could. He saw what we saw; he knew the earth is largely an open sore. Like Mark Heard, he faced much rejection for painting pictures of the world as he knew it, not as he wanted it to be.
Some find this depressing. Fine. Some see a nicer place outside their window, and Gene's music is a grim intrusion upon that view. For most of us, however, Gene inspired in ways 'inspirational' music is impotent to inspire. Gene sang of our stupid, useless world, its loveless limits, and its wounded citizens that wound in return for past pains (ourselves included), yet Gene also had the courage to declare that he wasn't going to simply sit back and watch it all crumble around him. He was going to dig for something of value under the dung around him. This die-hard determination, and yes, this faith that something of value MUST lie underneath the ruins, this is what I believe inspired so many of us fans and lifted us like so little could.
As I mentioned, his death was about a year ago Tuesday. Adam Again is still much too obscure to even be considered a cult band, and most of their recordings are now out of print. It is probable that history will march on over Gene's grave without even noticing his headstone.
It's our loss."
And here are some lyrics from Dig...
I had a big idea, I had a lazy eye
I broke the sacred seal, I told a crazy lie
I've had my conscience bent, I've had my patience tried
I've been down in the desert and up by the riverside
Will the eagle fly if the sky's untrue?
Do the faithful sigh because they are so few?
Remeber when I cried? Remember when you knew?
Remember the look in your eyes? I know I do
And count the stars to measure time, the earth is hard, the treasure fine
To the sea I'll crawl on my knees
Feel it coming in, Feel it going out
Water covers sand, blood covers doubt
So I begin again, Again the healing bow
There was a time I might have surrendered, but not now
To the sea I'll crawl on my knees
To the sea I'll crawl on my knees
At the sea, I'll wait on my knees.
Hound Dogs's
This past week a good friend of ours packed up and moved off to New York City to pursue her dream of designing with the big wigs. She's quited talented and landed a job right away. Her significant other threw one heck of a send-off at Hound Dogs (which just happens to be my favorite eating-drinking-music listening establishment in the whole wide world). Here's a picture of Molly and Charity under the big Hound Dogs mural. The rest of the photos below are from the same evening. You shoulda been there. Maybe you were.
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