Monthly Archives: February 2012

Creative Day 18 &19

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I am going to stretch a little here on creativity. Part of what I do for a profession is lead the church in worship, mainly through music.  I am going to count these last two days as being creative because I was playing music and leading a band.

This weekend went pretty well as far as all the logistics go, but I just wanted to share the set list we had.

  • Freedom is Here
  • Your Love Never Fails
  • I Will Rise
  • Nothing Without You
  • Joy Will Come
  • Be the Change

People really sang out this weekend. The best part of my position is when you can hear so many voices singing together to the Creator. It gives me goosebumps every time.

Creative Day 17

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We send out a weekly email newsletter at Crossroads, and typically one of the pastors writes a memo.  This week featured a memo from myself, and I decided to talk about this whole creativity process…

I love being creative. Whether it’s writing a song or coming up with a new concoction in the kitchen, I find joy when allowing myself to create. Unfortunately as time has passed, these moments seem to come less frequent. In years past, it just seemed easier to enjoy making art.

Do you ever feel the same way?

After reading a couple different articles and a book called Untitled: Thoughts on the Creative Process, I decided to try and create something every day in February. I had to face the challenge of the blank piece of paper.

We are made in God’s image, and I believe one of those ways is having a sense of creativity. God’s beautiful creativity can be seen every time you walk outside, or look in the mirror for that matter.

If you want to be creative, the only thing I would suggest is to just do it. Get a blank piece of paper and draw. Sing along with your favorite album. Open the cupboards in the kitchen and make a new dish. Whatever you make does not need to be amazing. That is not the point. However, you might be amazed what you come up with.

Creative Day 15

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Another blues jam night.  Since I am not able to record our jam sessions at this point, I wanted share some resources each week that has helped me become a better blues player and musician.

100 Killer Licks & Chops for Blues Guitar is a great resource for anyone learning the blues. The 100 licks are all laid out in tabs (as well as notation), and can be listened to with a professional backing track on the CD that comes with the book. Beyond the 100 licks, this book goes into chord progressions, scales, and even some music theory.

Here’s what sold me on this book.

Each lick is actually mimicking great musicians like Freddie King, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Johnson, and many more.  Along with each style these and other musicians bring to the table, this book gives some history on each page about these artists. 100 Blues Licks also gets into how each particular guitar lick fits in a song, and also some things to watch out for.

I’ve experienced huge benefits from utilizing this book. If you are just wanting to dive right into to playing the blues, I highly recommend picking this book up.

Creative Day 14

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Valentine’s Day. Neither my wife or I really think the holiday is all that exciting. Despite this fact, I decided to put on a mini-concert for her and sang Songbird by Fleetwood Mac.  The song was performed at our wedding by dear friends of our, so the song as significance in our lives.  Here are the words.

For you, there’ll be no more crying,
For you, the sun will be shining,
And I feel that when I’m with you,
It’s alright, I know it’s right

To you, I’ll give the world
to you, I’ll never be cold
‘Cause I feel that when I’m with you,
It’s alright, I know it’s right.

And the songbirds are singing,
Like they know the score,
And I love you, I love you, I love you,
Like never before.

And I wish you all the love in the world,
But most of all, I wish it from myself.

And the songbirds keep singing,
Like they know the score,
And I love you, I love you, I love you,
Like never before, like never before.

Creative Day 11

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Nothing fancy today.  I was wanting some chili, so I made up a recipe.  Here it is…

  • 1 can Light Red Kidney Beans (drained)
  • 1 can Dark Red Kidney Beans (drained)
  • 1 can Black beans (drained and rinsed)
  • 1 can Whole Kernel Corn (drained)
  • 1 pound bacon
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1/2 onion cooked in bacon grease
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of garlic
  • 4 tablespoons of chili powder.

I threw this all together in the Crock Pot and enjoyed later in the day.  It was yummy.

Creative Day 10

Posted by Mick on

Oh my!  I have some serious catching up to do.  The last several days have been plenty creative, so I’ll just share quickly…

I wanted to surprise my wife for Valentines Day by putting a mini concert.  The idea was to set up some curtains in our basement so that I could sing to her when the kids went to bed.  I went a little further and ended up making a usable space for myself as well.

Now I have a space in the basement to listen and play music, as well as do work with some of the other jobs.  Pictures are soon to come.

Creative Day 9

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A poem for today about my relationship with Christine.

I still remember that day
Snow falling, ice forming
Playing football all afternoon
Two ladies decide to join
The first time we met

I still remember that day
Bargain shopping for clothes
Sub-par cafeteria dinner follows
My orange shirt blaring bright
The first time we converse

I still remember that day
Late night Valentines date
Decked out in dress and tux
Gift exchange by my car
The first time we kiss

I still remember that day
We always hated saying goodnight
Vending machines humming
We kiss. We hug. I go away dancing
The first time you said, “I love you.”

Creative Day 7

Posted by Mick on

I drew this picture of Robert Johnson this morning.  If you don’t know who he is, then you don’t know the blues.  It’s okay.  I’ll forgive you.

Robert Johnson is tragically part of the 27 Club.  His career was short-lived, but monumental in influence.  Such bands as Led Zeppelin, Cream, and the Rolling Stones may never had existed were it not for Johnson. Possibly his most well-known song, which has been covered time and time again, is Sweet Home Chicago.

It’s said that Mr. Johnson went to the Crossroads and sold his soul to the devil.  In exchange he became a great guitar player.  Whether this is true or not may never be known, but it sure adds to the mystique of this blues artist.