 Leonard Cohen could write a song. And people who try to cover him have no fear... My favorite version of this is Jeff Buckley's version, famously used on an episode of "The West Wing" by Aaron Sorkin. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AWFf7EAc4
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 This is another one from our dance band, the Beltway Rockers... but to be fair, I watched Guardians of the Galaxy recently, so it may have been that as well. Just a great song, and a truly great performance with Gaye and Tammi Terrell... enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C_3eYj-pOM  That bearded Maestro is Sousa himself, the March King. And behind him is the Marine Band, the longest continuous musical institution in the United States. They are, without equivocation, the best concert band in the world... and my wife Karen is their harp. They are the music for the White House and for the Commandant of the Marine Corps. They are exemplars of the best traditions of music, of service and of our history. When Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, the Marine Band played him in. Can you imagine? It has been joy to me to get to see her perform, and even more joy to see her prepare. It's one thing to see a master musician do their thing, it's quite another to have one in your home... what can I say? God loves me way more than I deserve. Anyway, this day began with "Semper Fidelis" - and if you haven't heard the Band do it, you are in for a treat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgABUZ4i9co Always Faithful indeed. When I was 13 or so, I found my parent's old record player... and a stash of music they had bought as kids in the 60's. What a treasure trove it was, an eclectic collection of tunes that spanned the vinylverse and traveled through time to hit me right in the breadbasket. One of the records I just fell in love with was Herman's Hermits, There's a Kind of Hush All Over the World. And from that album, the song about mind reading and shared experience has stuck with me: "If You're Thinkin' What I'm Thinkin'." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnHueg9b6BQ I'm amazed at the depth of memory that comes from actively focusing on these tunes beyond my normal routine. Enjoy! This is a recent addition to the set list of our dance band, The Beltway Rockers...
"Valerie" (Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeVUvA_BOzs This one was written by Dave McCabe Russell Pritchard Sean Payne Abi Harding Paul Molloy Boyan Chowdhury. Which is three more writers than chords in the song... but you know what? This one is just crazy fun. When it works it just works. Enjoy!  My daughter (Evangeline, a VERY precocious 11) and I have taken to affectionately calling each other "Weirdo." Probably not the best nickname for that stage of life for a young lady, but we say it with love. LOVE YOU WEIRDO... And we laugh, because it's funny. And as Sigmund said correctly, we "laugh because it's true." But one of the things that I suspect is odd about me is that I hear music in my head. That comes in various forms... stuff I'm working on with our church, or our dance band that will someday play out again post COVID, or things that I've heard that captured the reptilian part of my brain by hook or by crook. Sometimes it's music that hasn't been written yet, that's mostly pretty bad, and is mostly for my ears alone. One of the internal manifestations of this for me is that when I wake up in the morning, it is almost always to an internal soundtrack and it sort of becomes the opening musical score for the day. It normally follows me around for a bit and then I get distracted by a dog, or a phone call or la Chupacabra on the interwebs. And it can be literally anything, from Holtz, to MoTown to "You Are My Sunshine" - pretty much anything in my subconscious seems to be fair game. I tracked this for 10 days or so, and for no particular reason, I'd like to share with you... The Music in My Head. It will be a motley collection, that I promise. Here we go! Up first is this one... "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine" by Switchfoot and with a bit of fortuitous fun, they did a COVID version of this one from their respective homes. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhR6qV_WWxs “Without music, life would be a blank to me.”― Jane Austen Excerpts from dialogue between Greg Johnson of the Surge Community Church and Laura Hill of Annandale Bible Church, via Facebook Messenger, May 6, 2020. Links were subsequently added. From GJ: Hello. I'm Greg Johnson, a leader with the Surge Community Church that meets—when allowed!—at the State Theater in Falls Church. "E" Eric Reiss directed me here for possibly making contributions to a relief fund organized by Gustavo Pacheco of Annandale Bible Church. I'd like more information on this relief fund, notably how to safely contribute. ... From LH: Praise the Lord, good morning Greg! Yes, Pastor Gustavo set up a Venmo for contributions to our community. If you're in Falls Church, then you are surely aware of some of the needs that our church encounters. But God is faithful!! Look how he directed you, out of the blue, to us! 💞🙏. Would you like me to send you the Venmo QR code? Would you like to connect to Pastor Gustavo? What needs does the Surge have right now?  From GJ: Please forgive me for caution, but I've not met anyone from ABC--nice handle!--so I've some questions: 1. I think I can use VenMo. But if we want to send an old-fashioned paper check, to whom should it be written (Annandale Bible Church? Iglesia Biblica Annandale? ...) and to what mailing address? 2. How are needy people or providers identified and prioritized? (Galatians 6:10, Matthew 25:35,...) 3. How are needs met? (money gifts, grocery cards, food or other tangible gifts, rents paid to landlords, ...) We have at least $1200 in an initial gift. We meet in Falls Church and thus want to give to the Falls Church area. But currently our small congregation is mostly from out of town.... From LH: I can answer some of your questions. We have a small adult congregation and a relatively large student/children's congregation. Thus far we have given bags of food and necessities, set aside first for our families and the rest distributed via the parking lot at Braddock Elementary and dropped off in the Fairmont Gardens apartments (where most of our kids live). We work closely with the Parent Liaison at Braddock and we also have a close pulse on the students and the Parent Liaison at Woodburn ES. (we were recently were able to purchase a small laptop for a student at Woodburn who missed the school distribution). The parents and families have reached out to us, the children's church teachers, directly to ask for more food and provision. They have only a Safeway within walking distance of the apartments, and I've yet to see any available toilet paper there! So we'll check the church first and if there is no available funding, then we just go shopping ourselves to provide for their needs. God is so very faithful, and He has indeed supplied all our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. From GJ: Thanks! That's the kind of info I wanted. "God is good all the time. All the time, God is good." ... From LH: ... But if the Lord can use me, He can use anyone. Ps 40:2 "He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps."  |
Our Writers:At The Surge we love doing things together... that includes writing a blog! Here are a few of our main contributing authors: Greg JohnsonJesus++ Dwaine DarrahOur fearless leader, Dwaine is the lead pastor at The Surge. His experience in counter terrorism with the CIA prepared him for ministry and he likes dogs and babies even more than E does. EE (short for Eric Reiss) is the Wingman at The Surge and likes dogs, music, Mexican food, his wife Karen and his little girl Evangeline... not necessarily in that order. Archives
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The Surge Community Church
Meeting Sunday Mornings at The State Theatre in Falls Church, 11:10am! Meeting Sunday Evenings Online with SurgeOnline, 7:00pm! |