Bring On Back Yer Blues

Lately I have been re-kindling one's passion for the blues. When I started playing guitar the first thing I learnt to play was 12 bar blues shuffle in A.
Upon reading the life story of Eric Clapton, it is obvious his respect for a legendary pioneer of blues, Robert Johnson, who recorded a small number of songs all at once, and to my knowledge, died young. He was so unknown that only 2 portrait photos are known to exist of him.

For recordings of all his songs and a brief history on his life, check out http://www.morethings.com/music/robert_johnson/index.html

So I find myself getting back into the blues, trying to add a different feel and style to it as always, whilst keeping in the traditions that have been set up long before I braced this earth.

'Till next time...

The Imposter

The Imposter // Kevin Max

At first listening, Kevin's Album title 'The Imposter' was averagely similar to his first one. I got it in a bargin bin for $10 to be honest! (It was released AGES ago...)
But its solid. The music comes out and there's a bit of extra grunt behind the guitars that was somewhat lacking in the first one.
However, unlike friend and co-musician tobymac, Kevin's music fails to impress. There isn't one defining song that stands out from the rest. There isn't even any of his beloved poetry which used to break up the CD somewhat. Instead, the music fades into the background and the CD becomes a blur in those last few tracks. Toby has multiple songs on each of his CD's that stand out: Irene, Extreme Days, Momentum, Diverse City and Made to Love all define his music.
While its probably unfair to compare Kevin to a totally different style of music making, Kevin needed this one to be big. But instead, it was more of the same.
I'd still pay $10 for it though!

'Till next time...

100 Posts!

Yay! Its here! The 100th post on this blog!
I've been working on the new church website on and off for the last couple of weeks. It is yet undecided if it will go ahead - that rests entirely on the shoulders of the website select committee...
But I have told them about it and it has been viewed.
So here's the link!
http://www.huttbaptist.org.nz/demo/

I've also spent the first part of this week working on assignments, and so far its one down, and about 5-6 more to go! It will almost be never ending!

'Till next time...

The next holiday...

Friday was the last day of TE. It was an interesting feeling walking out of there.
On the one hand I felt relieved that the six week block was over, that TE3 had been completed. On the other hand I was sad to see it go; as I was just beginning to get into it and be myself.
I'd like to thank all those who had a part to play in that, for a great time, and special thanks to my AT who put a lot of time and effort to seeing me grow as a person and as a teacher.

And so I step forward into two weeks of assignment writing with a slight degree of hesitation. Its been a while since such has happened.

'Till next time...

LHBC Website Update.

I've been busy with school and things to get around to writing on here.

The weekend flew by somewhat as I began work on a demo site for the church. This is off my own back as I realised there was a better way that it could be managed. I've converted it over to run in Wordpress, a blogging system tool on the web - but have managed to use it more like a CMS (Content Management System)
This will hopefully make it easier for the church to maintain and update, especially in regards to new pages and other information.
I will let you more once discussions with the church have taken place with this.

'Till next time...

Portable Sounds

Portable Sounds // tobymac


The latest album by tobymac, titled Portable Sounds has been playing through my earphones for the last 3 months or so. But why I'm writing about it now is because it has finally clicked with me.
Unlike his previous albums which are titled after tracks on the CD, this one is separately titled.
I brushed this aside, as it occurs regularly on the titling CD front.
The songs on it are typical tobymac, but the range of styles is wider. There's a hint of blues, a bit of Backstreet Boys, the typical Rap/Hip Hop and Reggae. Not to mention the Opera that snuggles its way into one of the tracks.
This was something I realised ages ago, that he's done all these different style of song on one CD.
This is where the title becomes important. "Portable Sounds" is saying that Christian Music doesn't have to be about Hymns, but that it can sound exactly like secular music, whilst still maintaining a strong Christian message. The sound is portable, from secular into Christian.

In saying this, I have not read into what tobymac says is the reason behind the titling of this album, but one thing is for sure: Despite being about all these different styles and genre's, this album still holds that essential tobymac style.

'Till next time...