New stuff

so, I got a new camera, and along with it a flickr account. right now, i've got pictures of new mexico and our little adventure with the tree attacking the Drexlers' cars. soon there will be pictures of this guy tromping around the British Isles. but in the meantime:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattiebrown/

I got it, and it's awesome.

The Political Post

Here it comes. The obligatory political post.

My prediction: McCain's going to win. I may have to eat my words, but I think that people are going to vote the way they always have, and that the Democrats are just louder than they have been in the past. The same people are going to show up to vote.

But I could be wrong. Either way, I think it's interesting how the Democrats are constructing their rhetoric in case McCain wins by labeling his prospects for victory as nigh impossible. Right now everyone (in that camp) is talking about Obama just has to win, citing his popular appeal - interestingly, at one point the article cites an academic who "correctly predicted the last six presidential popular vote winners", a popular dead horse to beat among Democrats. The point is that when (if) McCain wins, the Democrats are going to cry foul (like they always do) and claim that there was no way it should have happened, likening the government and conservatives to everything from outdated, backwards backwoodsmen to the Gestapo.

You know, ultimately, I guess I'm a single issue voter, which is anathema to the average collegiate. The problem is that I read an article in the Bagpipe a while ago by Jared Mollenkof entitled "America's Elms", and the imagery has stuck with me. He used a story in which a German clergyman during World War II crusaded for the preservation of an endangered species of elm in a part of rural Germany, while Jews were being murdered in a concentration camp just outside town. My point is that the economy, the war, the environment, etc. are all important concerns, but as long as I live in a country that supports the systematic elimination of those without power or voice, I can't really think about anything else. They are all just elms in the face of a national crime. On top of that, I am a conservative, so while John McCain isn't exactly conservative, he is pro-life, and he is more conservative than Obama, which makes him at least a somewhat desirable candidate.

On a slightly different note, if I were to talk to someone about the abortion/pro-life debate, the tack I would take is a philosophical one. A common issue up for discussion in Philosophy classes is the defining of "person". No-one can claim to know for certain that the organism inside the womb is NOT a person. Scientific study cannot define something that is essentially spiritual. It's not a clincher, but I think that everyone has to come to the realization that any claims about the personhood of whatever is inside the womb are based on personal feelings and not facts. The truth is that the facts are hazy - you could make a pretty compelling argument that there is a negligible difference in the "personhood" of a baby just born and one in the third trimester, and you could (and I do) claim that the God of the Bible has something to say about babies in the womb, but the first argument is only going to go so far while the second will only appeal to certain people. However, it would be very possible, while discussing the issue with someone, to bring them to the point where they realized that all their assumptions about the unborn are based on social, economic and personal experience instead of what they know to be true about the being in question, which ultimately is the only thing that matters. Then they have to look at two options: if it isn't a person, then there is no problem with "terminating" it. If it is, then it is murder. If we don't know (which we can't, philosophically), then logically, it is the equivalent of (at the very least) voluntary manslaughter. On a national level.

That's why I'm voting for McCain, hoping that he can take us in the direction where it is indeed a crime to murder babies. Even if it's in small steps.

New Song

A Better Thief

So I finally got to Rome
I saw the Coliseum
It was my my senior year
Valley of the Roman Forum
My class was sitting there
Apparently fatigued
But I was on my way to the Capitoline

A cityscape
Opened wide before me
I then saw the world
There in all its glory
And it was wild
Just the way Cat Stevens sang

Since then I've grown a little bit
Learned a few things
Maybe gonna write some hits
And play some weddings
Did some homework and I
Listened to the albums that I always should have known
Now it's time to play some music of my own

We hit those Dublin streets
Like a band of raiders
With hymnals in our hands
We set out from Findlaters
We sang our hearts out, and a few gave theirs away
I think I lost mine as I saw the moon over Bray

It was a dream
That I've since tried to capture
It's something Lewis talks about
It's something like the rapture
Further up
Further in

And so I've grown a little bit
Learned a few things
Maybe gonna write some hits
And play some weddings
Did some homework and I
Listened to the albums that I always should have known
Now it's time to play some music of my own

But there is nothing new under the sun
All I can hope to be is a better thief
Than the guy who came before me, and hope that you
Won't realize that I have stolen
All the tunes I thought were golden
Unless you're Brian Eno
You've only got a few notes
And chord combinations
Before you hit repetition
Solomon he knows what's up, he tells me the truth
So I'll drink from the cup of wisdom while I've got my youth
I must choose wisely

I guess I'll grow a little bit
And learn a few things
Maybe gonna write some hits
And play some weddings
Even though it seems that I
just keep discovering the shores I call my home
I guess I'll keep playing music of my own.


Listen here.

Also, for those who don't know, most of the songs for the upcoming album w/ Third Lobby are here:
Matt Brown's Secret Songs
And here:
More Secret Songs

Abbey Pres.

So, I'm headed to Ireland at the beginning of July, on a fourth trip to work with Abbey Pres. in Dublin, specifically in music ministry. The first time I went, it was awesome, because it was Ireland, and the British Isles occupied a very special place in my imagination growing up. I wanted to see the rolling green hills and the ruins and the pubs, which are all good things that God enjoys, but I think the desires of my heart have been tinkered with to be more in line with his - now, more than anything, I get excited about going back and seeing the people God loves. It's great to feel a part of something big and epic, and every time I step out of the Dublin airport and onto that bus that goes to Parnell Square I feel like I've started a new chapter.

In this chapter, an amazing team of interns from the US are already there, working hard and loving on (sorry Dad, I know you hate that phrase) the people of Dublin. Already there are stories that are being told of wondrous things going on at Abbey. So: I would encourage you to read their blogs (I've posted a list) and see how these agents of the Kingdom are surreptitiously sabotaging darkness and breaking through with light. Pray for them! And pray for us, so that when our team touches down we can jump right in with those who have been laboring tirelessly before us. It's going to be great. As you may have heard me say before, this is going to be "sick". As in crazy awesome.

June 27th Show

Ben did the flyer...many thanks to his awesomeness.
For those of you (probably all) who can't read the text at the bottom, it is my riveting autobiography:

Matt Brown has been writing songs since he was in 9th grade, when his biggest worries were about girls. He still worries about girls, and he still writes songs, but he worries about many other, seemingly bigger things, which he also writes about.

Actually, most of his songs are happy, snappy pop songs about things like life, love, history, philosophy and meteorological phenomena. Since 2004 his band Third Lobby has played concerts in the Chattanooga/Lookout Mountain area and has traveled to Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Missouri, Texas, New Mexico and even Ireland. With Third Lobby he has released two albums and is working on a third. He really likes root beer, talking to people, and long walks in the mountains (not the beach).

He takes himself very seriously.



So...please come. It would be so freaking sweet if you were there. It's free.

Music and Church Planting

So I'm working in Admissions now. Some might see that as selling my soul to the Man...if so, my soul was sold when I was freshman. The truth is, I love Covenant, and have no qualms about introducing it to other people. I know it's not perfect, but nothing is. I've had the opportunity over the past four years to take my music and use it to show people one aspect of Covenant, in a way that is arguably more human and relatable than the average college recruiter presentation - for me, it's a slice of what I and many others have been able to do at Covenant as a student: pulling musicians together and playing my songs for people. On the Third Lobby tours, we haven't had to give a specific Covenant spiel; we just had to play concerts, services and youth groups and just be ourselves, and people would talk to us. So now I'm doing some of the normal Admissions Representative stuff, but I'm beginning to plan music trips for the late summer and fall, and I've got some ideas to take it to the next level.

While at Covenant, I've been doing this music ministry leadership internship at North Shore along with Dave Hess and David Henry, two very talented musicians and leaders. We three also went on the December Ireland trip, which was a blast as well as an awesome growing experience. One of the great things about both the internship and the Ireland trip (hey that rhymes) is that they both helped bring about a team mentality, for us three in particular but also for everyone involved in both enterprises. The weeks leading up to the Ireland trip were great because the team got together on Friday mornings to pray and talk about our vision for the trip and its implementation, and as we got closer to leaving we prepared and did a concert at Lookout Mountain Pres. as well as leading music in Chapel and at North Shore. Doing these together was great; one, because most of the group were really talented musicians, and two, because we were all on the same page as to why we were doing it. It made me want to assemble a crack squad of believers and start a church somewhere (Sam Belz, you would be the preacher). While I recognize that this is probably a faulty perspective (no-one can just pull together everyone they want and start a perfect anything; effective ministry always involves real people thrown together who are forced to compromise), there was definitely something special about our team.

Because of the talent and connections we've got here at Covenant, I want to take what we've got that's special and share it with other churches, specifically, church plants, which are often short on resources and manpower. Dave Hess and I have been talking about how we can use our gifts, talents and passions for the good of the Church, and I think this is one way that we individually and Covenant as a whole can give back and minister to the Church. So this fall I'm hoping to put together a super-team of musicians that can do a church service on their own, plug into a larger, existing team for a service, lead music for youth group, or split up into smaller teams of 2-4 to cover more ground on a trip and help, say, three churches on a Sunday morning. The plan is to have a small group (5-10, and the personnel may change depending on schedules and area) of musicians that can do all that but that are talented and diverse enough to put together a 2-3 hour concert or coffee house (much like in Dublin) consisting of original music, classics and classical. So if you know any churches that would be interested in something like this, please let me know! The idea is that yes, we will still be representing Covenant, but we will be doing much more than just giving a talk and answering questions; we hope to provide a real tool for ministry that also continues to build the relationship between churches and Covenant.

Ah, what the heck, I might as well. (Thoughts on Weezer and Coldplay)

I have so many things I should be working on right now, but... I have to give my two cents on the recent musical achievements of two iconic bands: Weezer and Coldplay. They are both wildly popular, but beyond that there are few similarities, except that they both released albums after a brief hiatus.

All of my friends grew up with Weezer, and I heard their name thrown around, along with snippets of songs like Say it Ain't So, The Sweater Song, Island in the Sun and of course, Buddy Holly. On one of my recent routine trips to McKay's used bookstore to get the albums that I should have always been listening to and loving, I finally picked up the Blue Albums. I subsequently lived a 30-minute or so adolescence on the drive back up to school. Then, after hearing the recent single, "Pork & Beans", I took an interest in the new album (my ears are still relatively new, mind you). Listened to a few tracks online (thank you, Hype Machine), and picked it up at Best Buy. Oh man.

The first track, "Troublemaker", had me rolling with laughter it was so good. The breaking point for me was the verse in which he sings, with a guitar riff going on underneath: "You wanted arts and crafts, how's this for arts and crafts - wuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh THAT'S RIGHT!" The second track, "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived", I couldn't believe, was subtitled "Variations on a Shaker Hymn". Starting off with a dinky piano riff version of "Simple Gifts", Rivers Cuomo goes into a mock-rap, making it sound a bit like Jay-Z's use of "It's a Hard Knock Life". (Listener beware: it's a bit sexual, but in a mocking sort of way, a la Chazz Michael Michaels from Blades of Glory). But after the rap and in-your-face response, it just takes off. This is the new Bohemian Rhapsody...can I say that? It at least echoes the greatness. Every half minute or so the song shifts gears to a new sound, resulting in a masterpiece of a song that covers just about every base musically. You really just need to listen to it.

Then it's "Pork & Beans", which is a great song. The two after that are great - "Heart Songs", a somewhat sappy (but it's alright) walk through all the songs that influenced Rivers Cuomo, and then "Everybody Get Dangerous", which is awesome, just because it has the lines: "Hey Dad, my friends got some new ninja swords; Is it cool if we slash up this place...And get dangerous?" And then the rest of the album is good, sort of. But that's where I finish raving and move on to Coldplay.

Viva La Vida (or Death and All His Friends) is much easier to talk about than the Red Album, because I really can just say that you need to buy it and listen to the whole thing over and over again. (You can listen to the whole thing right now, at http://www.fm97.com/cc-common/news/sections/special/coldplay.html) I heard Violet Hill when it came out a while ago (again, thank you Hype Machine), and I really liked it. I thought it was interesting Coldplay was going for rock and roll, but it was good. Then Viva La Vida came out, and burrowed into my brain and I've been singing it since. Way to go, Eno. Brian Eno's production has really helped Coldplay make an excellent album. Viva La Vida is such a good song, but so is every other song on the album. I would suggest listening to Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love, Cemeteries of London and Death and All His Friends if you've already heard the singles and want to hear some great tracks from the CD. In the words of the wife in Raising Arizona: "I love it sohohohoho much."

Awesome.

Everything about this music video is awesome. The song itself, the direction and feel of the video, and the dancers. The moves are so tight.

Gnarls Barkley's "Going On":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENE1eWtW7e8

The God-People-Art/Artist Triangle

I was talking with Wade Williams yesterday on our back from Birmingham, where we had met with Tom Saxon to talk about details concerning the Ireland trip in July. The general topic for the day was the intersection between faith and art (which touches on just about everything). One of the things I've tried to develop in the past years (at least partially) is a sense of the relationships between the artist, his art, his audience and his God, and I've come up with a sort of triangular model. (Which I can't give a diagram of here but I can at least give the idea.)

Basically the artist, as sub-creator, creates because he must. This sub-creator's creations glorify his Maker, whether or not that is his intention. (So this is the vertical relationship - communication with God, whether conscious or sub-conscious.) Then, because art does not exist within a vacuum, communities form around the artist and what ever is communicated from artist to audience (this being the horizontal relationship - communication with each other). It's basic; these are the only elements there really are to any kind of human expression, including sports, music, history, math, you name it. The key is for the artist to not lose sight of one or the other - if you love God, you'll love your neighbor; in the same way, if you are creating or performing or excelling for God, it is to be used to edify each other and tell one another truth. Don't coop yourself up with your art, either in physical reality or with regard to meaning through communication - once you lose sight of actually connecting with people and think that your art is significant in and of itself, your achievements are dead. Art for art's sake achieves nothing.

It was at this point that I made a connection I hadn't made before. In one of the meetings for our music leadership internship program (that's a mouthful) over the past year or so with North Shore, we discussed the idea of certain adherence to quality standards in a way that misses the mark. It's funny; we think that in music, whether it's a church service or a college music program, we can create something that's up to God's standards of quality, delivered on high either through classical composers or the producers of slick worship services in Nashville mega-churches. The reality is that at best, our efforts amount to a daughter's crayon drawing being proudly displayed on the fridge of her father. The point is not that you shouldn't try and do your absolute best; rather, it is that yes, God loves art, but he loves it because it is done by his children (using that term loosely here to mean the humans he created). He delights in art, and that art does not exist by itself on some mountain top, mysteriously and inexplicably existent. Art, by definition (wait, can I claim that?), is done by an artist. And it is these human artists that make angels wonder.