Christ is Risen!

We Shall Overcome the Devils and Dust

The Boss is putting out a new record of Pete Seeger classics. I read a story at lunch today about it in The New York Times. My first thought: "Again to Paradise..."

Here it is from the man himself: "In 1997 I recorded "We Shall Overcome" for Where Have All The Flowers Gone: The Songs Of Pete Seeger. Growing up a rock n' roll kid I didn't know a lot about Pete's music or the depth of his influence. So I headed to the record store and came back with an armful of Pete Seeger records. Over the next few days of listening, the wealth of songs, their richness and power changed what I thought I knew about "folk music." Hearing this music and our initial '97 session for Pete's record sent me off, casually at first, on a quest....It was a carnival ride, the sound of surprise and the pure joy of playing. Street corner music, parlor music, tavern music, wilderness music, circus music, church music, gutter music, it was all there waiting in those songs, some more than one hundred years old. It rocked, it swung, it rolled. It was a way back and forward to the informality, the freeness and the eclecticism of my earliest music and then some."

Archdiocesan Council

April 7-9, we hosted the Archdiocesan Council here at our parish. Krista and I hosted Fr. John Jillions from Annunciation Cathedral in Ottawa in our home, and it was great to get to know him a little, and to get some advice from him on some educational options back in Britain - particularly the potential with Tyndale House in Cambridge.

At the Liturgy on Sunday, St. Herman's parish presented an icon to Deacon Gregory Scratch, in loving memory of his Father, Igumen John, who had been priest here in the late 90s. It was so rich and good to finally meet Deacon Greg, as I remember first seeing him as an unassailibly cool sideburned hipster back at St. Herman's in Langley ten or so years ago.




Myself, Krista, Glenn Friesen, and Dr. Richard Schneider study the icon. Fr. Vladimir painted this icon of St. John the Forerunner on one of the panels prepared by Heiko Schlieper. There are many layers of meaning behind this. For one, Igumen John's monastic patron was St. John the Baptist, and the fortieth day memorial of his death took place on one of the feasts of the Forerunner. Secondly, it was Fr. John Scratch who chrismated Heiko back in 1983. And it was Heiko who gave Fr. Vladimir his first instructions in iconography. And now this icon goes back to the Scratch family.

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." - Luke 6.38

The Triple Bottom Line - a Porpoise-Driven Life

I am now back from Red Deer, having survived a few days with about 200 Albertan civic planners. It's great to be back home with Krista, but I am totally exhausted from the conference. The one cool thing was the underground discussion of the proposed high speed rail electric link between Calgary and Edmonton (known in planning circles as the "Metro Adjacent.") A prof. from the University of Toronto gave a compelling presentation that all our plans should take into account that gas at the pump could well be four bucks a litre across North America within ten years... which will push the rail agenda. It'll be a new golden railroad age. But I'm thinking we should do this now in Alberta. He projected initial capital costs of around 8 billion dollars. We could have totally paid for it with last year's surplus! And, worldwide, these railines post profits within two to three years!

Talk about jargon, though... these planners have raised it to a fine art. I spent most of the time just savouring the insider-speak. For instance, there was incessant yakking about the "triple bottom line" - a sustainability model that attempts to address environmental, social, and economic factors. But hey, these are people that refer to roads as "arterials."

And, since you all so clearly enjoyed my last post about a self-improvement classic, I thought I'd also mention this one... that Victoria mentioned. I think it'd probably be a lot more compelling than the original (which I just can't seem to make the time for).

Choirs, Wild Man Blues and an 8th Habit!

This weekend Krista has been out in Saskatoon for the 10th anniversary of the Cecilian Singers and also for Rachel's wedding shower. The Cecilian Singers are a Saskatoon choir directed by Michelle, who is a good friend and music colleague of Krista's mom, Barbara. I think almost everybody in Krista's family - except maybe Annika - has been involved in this choir at one time or another, so they were all invited to come sing at this anniversary. Rachel and her mom are also involved with the choir too. I just talked to Krista on the phone, and she said she'll be home in between 11 and 12 tonight... so I can start counting down the hours.

So amidst all the music and festivities of Saskatoon, I decided to stay home as I'm starting a new position tommorrow with the Municipal Hertitage Partnership Program for the Province of Alberta. I get to head off to Red Deer tommorrow for the Alberta Planning Conference, to learn about civic planning issues in the province.

In order to pass the time, I rented a movie from our local Parkallen Video Gallery, and had a nice talk with Jeff, who owns the place. He's a filmmaker himself, and a great guy to talk to. Jeff, somewhat to my surprise, is a fan of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I was mainly surprised by this because Jeff is sort of hippie-esque (while at the same time running a successful small business). I mentioned I'd taken a 13-week course on the 7 Habits, and despite being put off by the jargon, benefited from much of the actual material. He then showed me a book by Buckminster Fuller that he said was the origin of the concept of "synergy," and also nearly knocked my socks off by announcing that - lo and behold - Covey has now identified an 8th habit! The 8th habit is all about encouraging "greatness" in others and in the world.

Krista and I have been enjoying the brilliant sit-com Arrested Development. But I also felt like a little music-travel documentary, so I picked up Wild Man Blues which is a documentary film about Woody Allen's jazz band. Not very many people know that Allen has been accomplished clarinetist since the early 1960s. As a young stand up comedian, he'd ask to sit in with the band in the clubs. His vernacular is the primitive New Orleans jazz style popularized by people like Sidney Bechet, and he's really good. Apparently Allen plays every Monday night in Manhattan at a little place called Michael's Pub. In 1997 he took his band to Europe, playing packed concerts all over the continent. Wild Man Blues documents this tour. At the end, Woody goes and visits his parents, who are in their late 90s. A great scene. At one point, his dad says, "maybe you think just because you wrote a script, and everybody liked it, you think you're some kind of bigshot, well that's a bunch of hokum!"


As I was listening I was shocked to hear one particular tune. I recognized it immediately as The Old Rugged Cross, done in a New Orleans jass style. I can remember Grandpa Russ singing this song. But doesn't this seem incongruous for some reason... a famous Jewish comedian playing this incredible tribute to the Cross? Was this an ironic statement, or is "The Old Rugged Cross" simply a standard of New Orleans jazz? I was struck by Allen's incredible clarinet on this tune - breathy and full of emotion, almost, to use Abraham Heschel's word "pathos." It was both wierd and also so 'right' at the same time. Allen to me, though of course lacking the whiskers, embodied something of the strange beauty of the Hebrew prophets. They also did Rock of Ages.