matmusic ministries

Wow, April! That is really my last post. Yikes.

Here are some pictures from a Ranger Game outing with my Dad that we enjoyed back at the beginning of summer.

Piggy back rides into the ballpark

The boys were hoping for a ball hit onto the hill next to us so they could run out and try to nab it but it did not happen at this game.

We had a great time and are looking forward to the next game.

It’s been a while since I have posted pictures on this blog so here are some of the kids and their recent accomplishments.

Ashton and I attended a Daddy/Daughter dance in The Colony. I had a beautiful dance partner. We enjoyed dancing, snacks and got our picture made together.

At open house, Ashton showed off the self portrait character she made. I love the orange hair.

At a recent One Mile race in Denton, Wyatt placed second and Soren (Wyatt’s cousin) placed first. Go runners!

Parker enjoyed his fourth birthday cake. Since we had more than one party (one with kids, one with adults, etc.) he was a bit confused as to when he actually turned four. I think we finally have him convinced that he is now really a four-year-old.

For his birthday, Parker got a remote controlled kite and we had fun trying to get it to work.

The city of The Colony has a massive Easter egg hunt every year. The kids divide up into age groups on different baseball fields. When the volunteers say go, the kids run around the outfield and pick up the eggs that have been spread out there. So, really, there is not much of a hunt but more of a free-for-all scramble. The kids had fun.

Ashton participated in a music presentation at her school. Music and drama are two of her favorite “special” classes at school.

I trust your Easter was one of rejoicing and remembering the greatest act of love in human history - Jesus’ death and resurrection.

I wanted to let you know that this coming Sunday, I will be leading worship at my church in Carrollton, TX, Sojourn Church. If you are in the area and could join us for one of our three Sunday services, it would mean a lot for me to have you worship with me.

We have two morning services at 9 am and 11 am. And we have an extended worship service called Seeking Him in the evening that begins at 6 pm.

For more information or directions click here to visit www.sojournchurch.org.

Hope to see you there!

P.S. I have lots of family information and pictures that I hope to post soon.

Yesterday, my littlest boy turned FOUR big years old.

It’s hard to believe that Parker came into this world four years ago. The time does fly yet, I remember the birthing center and the joy I felt at his birth like it was yesterday.

I am so pleased with Parker and the way he is growing and developing and learning how to be a boy and, gradually, a man. I am so happy that he already knows about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I smile when I hear him pray and how his prayers are evolving. I laugh when he jumps and sings and does his “funny walk” when we are worshiping in the living room.

Happy Birthday, Parker. I love you!

I am excited to announce that I will be part of a team that will be leading worship at our church on a monthly basis.

Beginning this Sunday, March 1st, I will be leading worship for both our 9 am and 11 am services in the morning. Then, that evening at 6 pm, I will be leading again at our night of worship and prayer.

I am honored to be trusted with this responsibility and am really looking forward to what God will do in this season at our church. Please pray for direction and peace and I prepare and actively lead people into the throneroom. Your prayers are coveted.

The next Sunday at which I will lead will be March 29th. I would love to see family and friends join us at Sojourn for any and all of the services.

Click www.sojournchurch.org for more information.

As part of this season, I plan to post the songs we do here with some notes on the service. I hope that this exercie will be a good way for me to vent, if needed, and to share practical insight to the thinking of a worship leader. Maybe you will be blessed too.

A few days after the post below about Dirk, The Dallas Morning news posted an interesting article about him. Eddie Sefko compared him to some of the greatest power forwards of all time. Below is part of the write up.

“…we thought it would be enlightening to see where Nowitzki ranks on some of the key statistical lists for power forwards.

These lists are confined to players who spent most of their careers playing power forward, though some might have also played center or small forward at times.

We used 15 power forwards: Charles Barkley, Tom Chambers, Terry Cummings, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Elvin Hayes, Jerry Lucas, Karl Malone, Bob McAdoo, Kevin McHale, Nowitzki, Charles Oakley, Bob Pettit, Jack Sikma, and Buck Williams. Players who specialized in one area (think Dennis Rodman) were omitted for this exercise. Nowitzki, Duncan and Garnett are still active.”

NOTE: For the sake of time, I have not listed all 15 players and their stats.

There are a few things I take from this.

1) Dirk is special. We are in the midst of greatness. He is not last on any of the lists and is middle of the way on most. And here is the thing: he is only 30. He has, barring injury, a LOT of basketball left.

2) I hope Dirk gets another chance to win a ring…preferably with the Mavs. Back to my previous post, please get Dirk some big-time help!

3) Karl Malone was good. He was 2, 1, 4, 10, 1, 1, 6, 1, 9 in the lists respectively. Only mark against him was 0-3 in Titles/Finals trips.

This was a fun topic, tell me what you think by posting a comment below.

I painfully sat by while the Mavericks lost all steam, blew a 15 point lead, and lost to the World Champion Boston Celtics last night.

Dirk had a monster game and drew a few chants of “MVP” from the crowd. In the end, though, all the Celtics had to do was to stop one person. And they did just that and secured the win.

Dirk’s performance made me think of other Maverick greats. There are, as you see in the picture above, exactly two Maverick numbers retired; the #15 of Brad Davis and the #22 of Rolando Blackman. Obviously, Dirk will be there someday. Does anyone else deserve to be there?

If Jason Kidd had been here for his entire career, you could make a case for him.
Mark Aguire? Given his icy relationship with the organization, I think not.
Jamal Mashburn? No.
Jimmy Jackson? No way.
Shawn Bradley? *laughing* Uh, no.
Jason Terry? Nice player but probably not (barring a championship in the next few years)

Any one I am missing?

*crickets chirp*

Which leads me to my final point…PLEASE get Dirk some help. Paul Pierce was a nice player until they put a superstar (Garnett) and one of the best shooters in the league (Ray Allen) with him. Now Pierce is a Championship MVP. Could Dirk be the same? I would love to find out.

I am part of a, for lack of a better term, discussion group about music that takes place around Grammy time each year.

This year, I actually took notes on the show last night as a watched/fast forwarded. Did you watch the show? What are some of your thoughts?

- U2 was great. What was Bono wearing on his feet? Frankenstein boots? Is he that short?

- How can a person not stop taking drugs for ONE night? Whitney is a sad story…thanks a lot Bobby Brown

- Justin Timberlake can really sing. His falsetto is incredible. (Al Green was great too, at that age, his falsetto is impressive too)

- Chris Martin (lead singer of Coldplay) is not a very good singer and turns out he cannot dance either…at all. He looked like he was in pain.

- Carrie Underwood or Jessica Simpson? Did Romo make the right choice?

- What exactly makes Country music Country any more?

- Coldplay are rockstars I guess that’s why they can wear those clothes. The Sargent Pepper’s comment was funny tho

- Kinda impressed with Kid Rock. Is that bad?

- I want Taylor Swift’s guitar

- Miley can sing. Great voice control.

- How in crap did Jennifer Hudson not win American Idol?

- Shouldn’t Katy perry have ridden down in a peach, not a bannana?

- I hope Kanye keeps rapping and quits singing through an auto tune modulator

- MIA outfit was hilarious. Glad she didn’t give birth on stage, I was starting to wonder (She is on par with the big rap boys…so confident in herself)

- Jay Z can flow

- Hip hop all stars was best performance of the night (Slight edge over Radiohead with the USC Marching Band.)

- I love Grohl on the drum skins. McCartney has still got it. I planned a derogatory comment about his age but I got nuthin’

- Between Amy Winehouse and Adele England has put out some soul singing white girls recently

- Radiohead and USC marching band. Brilliant. In awe of this band’s creativity time and again (I think they could have just ADDED the USC kids to the rest of the band, not replaced the rest of the band. Were they trying to save on airfare?)

- Surprised to find out that Neil Diamond did not have a number 1 song until this year. He beats me though.

- It’s the dang Grammy’s learn how to feed the lead guitar licks through the TV sound! I could not hear John Mayer’s lead lines and during JT and Al Green, we couldn’t hear Kieth Urban.

- Lil Wayne is lil. Was he wearing Nike mcflys?

- Will. I. Am and T Pain’s clothes. Why?

- The Carter 3. Really good album

- “…and the Grammy for Album of the Year goes to…” Cmon Radiohead…genuine anxiety here… DANG!

- Could the crowd have been less excited about the album of the year? I Don’t blame them…Snooze

In all, it was a good show for people who like music. What did you think?

At long last, I present for you my top album of the year.

#1

The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead

After a forced four year hiatus, The Helio Sequence returns with a great American rock album that should make us all wonder why we didn’t miss them more while they were gone. Relentless touring in support of their last album Love and Distance put too much strain on the voice of front man Brandon Summers and he had to stop singing altogether. Good thing his incredibly talented drummer and band mate Benjamin Weikel waited for him to heal because the duo is, indeed, dynamic. They return with force in 2008 with the mature yet easy-on-the-ears Keep Your Eyes Ahead, an album that must not be missed.

How such a large amount of quality sound can come from a group of just two is hard to fathom. Layers of electric guitar sounds, acoustic guitar strums, keyboard lines, blips and bleeps mix together with the solid and steady drumming to create a sound that is more indicative of a full band. These excellent musical constructions are coupled with well-thought-out and well delivered lyrics that make up songs that are familiar but never boring.

It’s the most solid album in the group’s discography, haunting with moments of near perfection.
Alternative Press
[Mar 2008, p.140]

I pulled the above quote from Metacritic.com and it’s hard for me not to agree with the “near perfection” sentiment. This is an album that I could listen to from start to finish just about any time or anywhere. And if you have not heard it yet, you need to see if you agree as soon as you have a free 40 minutes.

Finally, after my blast of a trip to Portland, Oregon this past summer, I feel a stronger draw to people from the great Pacific Northwest. The members of Helio Sequence happen to hail from that great town and I can’t say that that fact had nothing to do with this selection.

The ironically named Lately is the album’s first song and the lyrics almost echo what must be the thought in Summer’s mind. While he is talking about a former lover, the lyrics could also refer to a music public that most likely wrote the band off as a flash in the pan. “Lately I don’t think of you at all.”

While the first four songs of the album are solid and steady rock tunes, the album rests a bit with Shed Your Love. This thought provoking song about a person who is trying to get over a lost love borders on sad. But the excellent guitar work by Summers makes the song entirely listenable.

“Drank the dark wine of the New York night
My shattered mind across the borderline
Spent the night in someone else’s arms
Shed your love, shed your love
Shed your love, shed your love
On a subway train before the dawn
The ride was short but my thoughts were long
Couldn’t figure what got in to me
Shed your love, shed your love
Shed your love, shed your love”

But just when you think that Shed Your Love’s gentle finger-picked guitar and equally gentle vocals might induce nap time, the album gives way to the hard hitting and creatively composed title track Keep Your Eyes Ahead. When the double cymbal crash at :21 kicks the song into high gear, it is obvious that no sleep is needed. Be sure to check the drumming closely in each verse (verse one starts at 1:19 elapsed.) The tom roll followed by the tripping snare is to be admired.

Even the video for Keep Your Eyes Ahead is engaging with a travelling box of a stage housing both members and surrounding them with lights, magnifying glasses, and colored liquid. All this is done outside where the falling snow indicates just how cold the filming must have been. If you are interested, see the link below (just be sure to hit the back button after the video to finish the review.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIicqULYhGw

Hallelujah calls us to “move around with ease” and to this steadily marching track, it’s easy to do. The solo which begins at 2:11 won’t blow you away with technical guitar excellence but it’s building layers and sounds enchant and add to an already excellent song.

The album is complete with the lo-fi romp of No Regrets. What sounds like a song recorded at a party of friends is actually a song with a challenging message and folk sensibility. The harmonica and vocal delivery are quite obviously Dylan-influenced and done to near perfection. How fitting that a singer with vocal problems would want to send the album off with a Dylan feel.

“Well, I lived my whole life
When I saw your face, sayin’
“Please don’t leave me now.”

Well, I cry a lot
When I see your face, sayin’
“Please now leave me down.”

And when that sun sets
I’ll have no regrets
I’ll walk out that door
I’ll shed all my faith
And I wont shed a tear”

Any 37-minute, 10-song album that boasts more than one or two memorable tunes seems increasingly rare in our current download-ready singles era, but this is such an album.
By Mason Jones
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4066

Check the band on the web at:
http://www.subpop.com/artists/the_helio_sequence
http://www.myspace.com/theheliosequence

So tell me what you think by posting a comment, I do enjoy reading your thoughts. And if you have posted a comment already, check the replies, I may have replied to you with a comment of my own.