Powerful stuff.

 

Wow. Just wow.  I don’t think I’ve ever been in a more powerful worship service.  And I’m not saying that lightly.  ONE Atlanta led worship at Safehouse Outreach downtown tonight, a ministry to the homeless of Atlanta.

 

 I thought the roof was going to come off the place.  A couple of us had a hard time composing ourselves onstage.  I don’t know that I’ve ever seen and heard worshipers that passionate, genuine and loud!  I don’t know what else to say.  I hope we can take a bunch of you with us next time, December 2nd, to sing along with us and perhaps help serve food.  

 

The band was Casey Darnell, Jamie JAMM Portee, Ashley Appling, Phil Rogers, Nick Pirtle, and me.  Thanks to Philip Bray, Drew Benton, and the whole Safehouse crew for having us.  Powerful stuff, indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone up for joining us next time?

What’s going on?

 

So, this morning I could’ve sworn I distinctly heard the sound of an accordion playing Free Falling by Tom Petty.  That’s pretty specific, I know, but it was clearly that chord progression.  Turns out my 11 year old son had found my old accordion in the basement.  I asked, “Is that Free Falling by Tom Petty?”  He laughed and said, “Yes.”  Then he started playing the melody with his right hand while playing the familiar chord pattern using the chord buttons.  It was the kind of moment that just makes a Dad happy, so I snapped this pic.

 

Anyway, just thought I’d post today about what a few of us in the 1ATL community are up to right now.

 

Tomorrow night, several of us are going to Safehouse Outreach to play a few songs.  If any of you want to come listen and, more importantly, volunteer, then please drop me a line.  It’s a great experience.

 

Dan Hannon is in the studio with Manchester Orchestra and fellow producer Joe Chicarelli (U2, Counting Crows, The Shins, Tori Amos).

 

Jamie JAMM Portee has meetings this week regarding one of Akon’s new artists, who is on Universal Records; he might be producing her next record.

 

Moxie Davis and his wife are returning from Puerto Rico.

 

Rudy Vaughn is gearing up for the big announcement that you’ll read soon here on this site.

 

And, by the way, here’s an update on our filmmaker buddy Brandon McCormick; he is recovering from a Vespa scooter accident last week in which he apparently had to slam on brakes while going 50 mph.  He will have to have teeth replaced and some facial reconstruction.  He’s covered with road rash, and has two badly sprained wrists.  He reportedly looks like death.  But he should fully recover. 

 

Anyone else want to tell us what you have going on musically right now?  Or, for you non-musicians who read this blog, you can tell us what you’re up to as well….

 

 

 

 

Awake O Sleeper

 

Kudos to Atlanta’s Brandon McCormick and Nick Kirk on this latest film.  Good song, good concept, good shots, good everything.  To watch it, click here.

 

From the Whitestone Motion Pictures website: “This short film from Whitestone was in part inspired by Plato’s Cave and depicts the struggle of freeing the captives, whomever they may be. This film is set to the song by the same name originally written for this film by the talented Wright Brothers: Nicholas Kirk and Billy Wilkerson.”

 

Right click (or control click for you Mac people like me) here to get the mp3.

 

Finally, please pray for Brandon, who was in a serious, though not life-threatening accident yesterday.  I understand him to be having some reconstructive surgery of some kind.  I’ll keep you posted.

“Ye, Souls who are bound unto Canaan…”

by Michael Johnston

 

“…come join in and help me to sing.”   What a great opening line for a song! I’ve heard it said before that one of the most remarkable things about being present when Sacred Harp is being sung is that you have this powerful music being created by strong passionate singers giving life and breath to rich, time-tested lyrics, but when each song is over there is an awkward silence. No applause. Not even congratulations given among the singers as a response in the absence of praise from an audience. That’s how last night’s pre-release party for Help Me To Sing started.

 

Packed into the back of Criminal Records in edgy Little Five Points, surrounded by new and used vinyl and a well curated collection of comics and graphic novels, the singers formed a hollow square as best they could. I couldn’t tell who said it as I was passing off the camera to veteran film maker Michael Ivester, but I heard someone call out a number and the hum began. After three songs, each one building with enthusiasm and adding to the tension in the room, those who came to listen and meet the artists who contributed to Help Me To Sing couldn’t help themselves and broke into applause. The singers, who were already smiling because they love it that much, were unaffected and seemed to deflect the praise back to The Sacred Harp - those who wrote it and the One who inspired it.

 

Tim Eriksen took the stage from there and appropriately paid homage to the understanding that the songs are best unchanged and sung by a seasoned group of singers. Nonetheless, Eriksen and the others performed live what they accomplished well on Help Me To Sing, the companion cd to the soundtrack of Awake My Soul with each artist’s performance followed by the original being sung from the book by the crowd turned performers. Tip of the hat to Matt Hinton for the time and effort involved in bringing his concept to reality on the album and in person. Help Me To Sing is uniquely a transcendent collection that is eclectic in sound and style yet grounded with a firm respect for the singular tradition of The Sacred Harp. If the in-store performance at Criminal Records is any indication, many more souls who are bound unto Canaan are responding to the call to come join in.

 

 

Links to previous ONE Atlanta posts about Sacred Harp and Awake My Soul:

Awake My Soul Pre-Release Party, posted 9.13.08

#376, posted 7.18.08

 

 

 

Access

So, Rudy Vaughn and I were in the band at Access Church in Jacksonville yesterday.  Rudy led worship.  Access Church is in a great venue, the Fine Arts Center of the University of North Florida campus.

 

We’d never met the other three guys in the band before, but they were interesting cats:

 

Mike VonBalson, of Jacksonville, used to be the drummer for the band My Hotel Year, who were no strangers to the Atlanta music scene and worked here with producer Matt Goldman of Smalltown Poets.

 

Will Hill on bass is a part of The Doorpost Film Project, which is a pretty exciting opportunity for filmmakers.  

 

Darin Peckham on guitar is now on staff as the music director for Access Church.

 

And, though he wasn’t on stage with us, we met a local musician who gigs a lot in Jacksonville/St. Augustine named Charlie Walker.  Check him out.

 

Finally, we met Derrick (spelling? sorry, man) of Anthem Church, a new Northpoint startup campus in Gainesville FL that launches October 5th.

 

These were good guys and we had a blast.  Hats off to all of them and to Access Church, who hosted us extremely well.

 

 

Jax Beach

So, Rudy Vaughn and I are here in Jacksonviille FL where we’ll be playing and singing at Access Church tomorrow morning. Our host for the day was Rudy’s cousin Andrea, whom we owe many thanks for our trek over to the beach. It’s the first time I’ve so much as sniffed the beach this year (and I got sand in my nose). Andrea and her boyfriend Vordet (I’ll bet I spelled that wrong) also took us to one of the restaurants he owns called Galangal and treated us to amazing Thai fusion; this place had major vibe and incredible food. Please treat yourself if you’re ever in the Jacksonville area.

I’ll report on how tomorrow goes.

 

 

I have road stories, too. (2 of 2)

by Moxie

 

So the second story goes like this…

 

My old band Sundry was playing at a festival in the Midwest called…yeah, right; I’m not saying any names. We played on Thursday, I think, and we were just hanging out until Saturday to see our friends Smalltown Poets and Third Day play. Well, the Poets finally arrived, and I wanted to say hello and help them get their stuff onto the stage.

 

But there was a problem. We were a “side stage band” with “side stage passes.” If you aren’t familiar, that means we don’t have main stage backstage passes! So I’m thinking, “Who cares?” I walk back there and hang out for about 15 minutes when all of a sudden the person running the festival came up and interupted the conversation I was having with Poets’ bass player Miguel. She said ” WHAT ARE YOU DOING BACK HERE!??” I said, “Helping The Poets load in.” She said, “YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO BE HERE!!” The entire time she was LETTING ME HAVE IT, Miguel was standing behind her making faces at me trying to get me to laugh. Well…he succeeded!

 

She WAS NOT happy and called Danny to say that Sundry would never play there again. Thanks, Miguel! However, before we left that night, Third Day was playing “Sky Falls Down,” and Mac invited me on stage to sing it with them. I didn’t go on from the back; I went on from the front! LOL! So I made it onto Main Stage after all!!! I have the picture to prove it! (Can’t find it right now, or I’d post it.)

 

Thanks for reading.  Hope to see you soon whoever you are.  

 

Mox

I have road stories, too. (1 of 2)

by Moxie

Well hello ONE Atlanta readers! My name is Mark, but the people close to me call me Moxie. 

 

I was looking at this blog yesterday and saw Danny’s “Top ten stories from the road” and even though I have heard all of those before they are still just as funny the third, fourth, and 70th time!!! So…I figured I would tell 2 road stories of my own. The first story is a Danny story that he has conveniently forgotten to share.

 

In 2000 or 2001 I was traveling around the East coast in a band called Sundry (pictured).  I was the lead singer. We were in Ashburn, Virginia, I think.  It was about 5am in the morning and I was sleeping in my bed in the RV when the WORST PAIN EVER hit me in my stomach! I figured it was the Friendly’s milkshakes that I’d devoured the night before, but when it got worse I knew it was something else. I got out of the bed and started crawling on the sidewalk to the concert promoter’s house about 100 yards away. Got there and she said, “We need to go to the hospital!”  So we went and I had to have emergency surgery to get my appendix taken out. Well, we had a show the next day and we weren’t the canceling type, so without hestitation Danny stepped in and said, “I can sing for the show.”  Little did he know…

 

After I flew back to Atlanta, I met up with the guys and realized that there was a video of the show! Now if you aren’t familiar with Sundry, we were what you would call a rock and roll gymnastics show! The video starts out with our opener “Famous” in which Chris Coleman the drummer took the lead. THEN…..it goes to Danny; at the very front of the stage singing from the keys he goes into “The Least of These.”  He gets done and the promoter walks up to the edge of the stage and whispers to Danny, “You guys have to be more energetic and get these kids into it!”  LOL!  So for the rest of the 35 mintue video Danny is RUNNING from one side of the stage to the other, not really concerned with lyrics or keys or pitch, JUST RUNNING!!  When they were done, I could see the exhaustion in Danny’s face.  It looked like he had just swum from Europe to America!!!  LOL again!

 

I’ll post story number 2 tomorrow.

 

Mox

 

How Sweet the Sound!

Apparently, last night at Philips Arena was smokin’.  Marcus Ross and the Beulahland Bible Church choir (above) of Macon, GA were among many choirs performing at the ”How Sweet The Sound” regional church choir competition at Philips on Monday. The winner was the Atlanta West Pentecostal Church choir (below).  They will move on to the national competition and the chance to be named America’s best church choir.   For more on the night, check out this gallery at AJC.com.

 

If you’ve never sung with a church choir, a really good church choir, or even a secular choir doing killer gospel arrangements…then (a) I have one up on you and (b) you don’t know what you’re missing. 

 

Can anyone testify?

 

 

R.U.N.

It was an honor for Second Wave to be asked recently to appear in a music video with our friend Ashley Appling as part of the 252 Basics children’s curriculum.  From the 252 Basics website: 252Basics is a unique approach to curriculum for churches and Christian schools. It is built around three Basic Truths every child should embrace according to what Jesus modeled in Luke 2:52.

 

(Please forgive the fact that the audio and video don’t quite match up; I’m working on it.)

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