intersections

Cobalt Season kicks off Hollywood concert series

Ryan Sharp of The Cobalt Season talks with members of the Hollywood Adventist Church (click to enlarge) Photo by Kathy Khoo.

We had a great time with The Cobalt Season on Thursday night. About 50 friends and strangers gathered in at the church for a wonderful concert. For more pictures check out the church's Picasa album. All photos are by Kathy Khoo.

We were also graced by two songs from Corrinne May, to open the night. Corrinne will be playing a full concert (the second in our series) on May 29. Stay tuned for more....

Weekend Wrap-Up

Aaron Beaumont at the Hotel Cafe

On Friday evening a large group gathered to hear Aaron Beaumont play his unique style of "piano rock" at the Hotel Cafe with proceeds going to ADRA to buy goats, as Aaron said, from the Really Useful Gift Catalog. Aaron's a great artist. You can hear some of his music at his MySpace page. But you really need to see him in concert to appreciate the music fully.

California Poppies galore
Here's my wife amidst the poppies at the Poppy Reserve in Lancaster, California.

It was just meant to be. My friend, Scott Arany, went on Sabbath. So, on Sunday morning I was thinking about what we could do with our kids. I looked at the front page of the Sunday LA Times and there were the poppies. We braved temperatures in the low 60s and winds gusting in the 30 mph range.

Aaron Beaumont in concert

A friend of our community, Aaron Beaumont is having a concert on Friday night. Check out his music on his MySpace page and come out and support.

Accelerate

Yesterday I went to Amoeba Music here in Hollywood with a friend to buy the much anticipated new release from R.E.M. called accelerate. I've been waiting for this one for a while. Everyone agrees that this is R.E.M.'s best album in more than a decade.

Accelerate is the first studio album by that post-Berry stage band, and it is one of the best records R.E.M. have ever made. - Rolling Stone

R.E.M. was my favorite band during high school. Those were the days of their 1987 release, Document. I had their lyrics taped up all over my room. This album is so reminiscent of their early energy, passion and seriousness about their art.
They are playing at the Hollywood Bowl on May 29th. Anyone want to go? Tickets go on sale April 6th.

Tick-Tock

This is a music video preview from the forthcoming CD/DVD release by Cobalt Season. As I mentioned below, Cobalt Season will be performing at the Hollywood Adventist Church on Thursday, April 24. Click here for concert details.

Cobalt Season coming to Hollywood

I first heard about Cobalt Season just over a year ago as their album, In Search of a Unified Theory, was being released. My wife and I drove to Orange County to hang with Aaron Flores' community one night last Spring to hear them perform. I was immediately drawn into their artistry and the subversive power of their lyrics. If you haven't heard their music, run - don't walk - to their MySpace page and give it a listen. It's not every day that people of the Jesus Way produce music like this. Mmmmm!

We've stayed in touch a bit in the intervening year and so when they said they were passing through L.A. this Spring, I naturally offered to host them here for a night.

So...on Thursday night, April 24th, at 7:30 pm, Cobalt Season will be performing at the Hollywood Adventist Church. They upcoming CD, Fragile Iconoclast, is being released any day now, so they will be doing songs old and new.

Admission is free, but we are going to be taking good care of our friends, so please come prepared to help us take care of them. Also, their CDs will be on sale so come prepared for that. See y'all in a few weeks!

New Music: Friend, Church Member, Lennox Fleary

My friend, fellow Hollywood Church member and singer/songwriter, Lennox Fleary, just released his first album a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday, Adventist News Network posted this story about Lennox. It's classic Lennox - authentic, deeply honest and self-revealing. That's exactly the man I know him to be.

Lennox moved to Los Angeles shortly after I did. When we met we both did this double take and realized we went to school together at Pacific Union College. His journey has now brought him to the Hollywood Church where is one of the emerging leaders in our congregation. In another post I'll share some conversations we've had recently that highlight how God is using people like Lennox to lead the missional transformation of the Hollywood Church.

In a few hours I'm helping Lennox move into his new apartment which is about 100 yards from the Hollywood Church - an intentional decision on his part to further integrate his life around a community he loves!

Thanks, Lennox for all you do and, more importantly, all that you are!

In the meantime, check out his MySpace, buy his album here (this would be a huge support to his music ministry), and read the ANN piece.

Oh yeah, and SAVE THE DATE - September 22 (evening) - My Father's House CD release party at the Hollywood Church!

Stumbling into Soliton

Last night found me in Ventura at the Hush Lounge. I had been corresponding by email with Kendall Payne, who is a Christian recording artist and a friend of my friend, JR Woodward. I was unable to catch her CD release party at JR's church a week or so ago, because I was out of town, so Kendall mentioned the gig in Ventura.

Little did I know it was the opening of the Soliton Sessions. About a week prior to this I had made my final determination that I couldn't make the time to be at the Soliton Sessions. And there I was. So I got to hear Kendall play some of the songs from her new CD which you absolutely MUST get. You can order the hard copy CD here or download from iTunes here. It looks like we may set up a Kendall Payne concert at the Hollywood Church in the near future! Stay tuned!

On top of this, I finally got to meet Ched Myers (author of Binding the Strong Man and A Biblical Vision of Sabbath Economics). Last Winter I registered to attend Bartimaeus Institute but was unable to attend. Ched remembered me from our phone conversations and emails around that time, but we have never actually met. We talked for the better part of 30 minutes with me explaining Adventist theology and sharing with him that a core group of younger Adventist pastor/theologians are interested in shaping the theological imagination toward a postmodern, social justice position. He was very excited and is more than willing to meet with us.

I've talked to a few people about my desire to re-vive re-church and make it useful for our current time and place. Perhaps we can convene a group of people to share our lives together and invite Ched to stir up our pure minds around issues of peace, restorative justice and Sabbath economics. What do you say?

Cobalt Season rocks the empire

On Saturday night, Elysabeth and I headed down to The Abbey in downtown Santa Ana to hear the latest from Cobalt Season. I'm very new to this husband and wife group, but I am a huge fan of their work already. Please visit their website or their MySpace site where you can hear some of their music.

And please, by all means, buy their stuff! You will support this amazing family and get some real kingdom music while you're at it.

Ryan and Holly are the husband and wife team that comprise Cobalt Season and they are a part of a community called ReImagine in San Francisco, led, in part by Mark Scandrette. We also have the privilege of meeting Adam Klein who read his amazing and challenging original poetry. I am looking forward to finding an evening to connect with these guys while I'm in the Bay Area next month.

Enjoy a few of my photos after the jump.

Let the Monsters See You Smile

I'm certainly no music guru...hence the lack of posts on my blog about music, but I do know something good when I hear it and there are some neat opportunities coming in the Los Angeles area.

First of all, the Apple Stores in Pasadena and Santa Monica are doing mini shows with really famous acts over the next few weeks. Click on the city names above to go to their calendar for the full schedule. Here's a couple of highlights.

Vega4 will be at the Santa Monica Apple Store from noon to 1 pm on Saturday, June 2, and in the Pasadena Apple Store on the same day from 7-8 pm. As you can imagine, the place will be packed and there will probably be die hard fans standing in line for hours.

Also, Switchfoot will be at the Santa Monica Apple Store on Tuesday, June 12 from 7-8 pm. I probably can't attend any of these, so if some of you go, take some pictures and let me know what it's like. I think it's great that Apple is doing this. Really brings the music to the people. Sweet!

If you're not in Southern California, first of all, I'm sorry! And secondly, you can check the Apple Store nearest you by clicking here.

Naturally, I can't say enough good about Switchfoot.

More about Vega4 after the jump...