Category Archives: 5 Songs I am Singing

Song is my love language.

The Bride.

The wedding is 2 weeks away.  Tredessa will marry.  She, pure as the driven snow, will meet Ryan at the end of a 30-foot aisle and she will make promises.  And if you know Tredessa, you understand that she will make them solemnly, with great care and that she will not have entered in lightly.

Making the house ready for company for the festivities, I re-arrange the furniture in her old room.  I have placed the bed where she kept hers the years she was here.  For a moment I close my eyes and I recall the perfect white-and-navy, tailored room.  There was a star-shaped metal lantern suspended exactly 12″ from the window, perfectly centered.  Shelves lined with books and photos, a place for everything and everything in its’ place.

As meticulous as she is, you might be surprised if you learned how many things she loves, how many interests she has: art, music, reading, learning, the Word, love and romance.  She is a veritable walking “imdb,” able to not only quotes lines from hundreds of movies, but also possesses the ability to “name that actor,” any actor and tell you every major role they have ever played.  She and her dad used to play their own 6-degrees-to-Kevin-Bacon before it was a real game.  And she loves children (dotes on her nieces and nephews, especially) and missions work and has traveled and taught and ministered across the nations.  Yes, Tre is multi-faceted and multi-talented.

For a minute or two, I allow myself the luxury of remembering Tredessa in this house, a young girl becoming a woman.  I recall her consecration to Christ and her refusal to “date around” to find the man God would send.  She had decided on her own that it was a waste of good emotion to fall in and out of love and she would have no part of it.  She was ever and always waiting for the “one.”  This lucky “one” would get all of her love, all the depth and breadth and width of it (Lucky Ryan!).  Meanwhile, she brought goodness and godliness into this house and our family.

She was the third of our children.  She had the long-Averi-type hair and a raspy voice.  When we’d get a drink for her and her sisters to share at a drive-through, little 3-year-old Tredessa would ask, “Can I be in charge of the drink, daddy?”  Already showing she was willing to carry the responsibility of a big task, already being groomed by God to lead a massive music festival one day.

But in this house, 9 years ago, she was finding her way, discovering God’s plan for her life. And in that room, she was seeking Him for all she was worth.  And loud?  Oh my.  Her  room and the bathroom and hallways were always pulsing with amplified praise!  There was life, lots of life.  And lots of long, dark hair everywhere.  And a bathroom full of girl products.

Intimate Stranger

Then today, as I sat remembering, I recalled a scene so distinct it seems yesterday – truly as if it were. just. yesterday.  Yet, it was also so common it could have been one of any number of days.  Dave and I had been out, perhaps grocery shopping, on a fall day.  Tredessa’s car was in the driveway so I knew she was home, but I didn’t see her.  There was music coming from her room.  When I went upstairs, I peeked through the door, which was slightly ajar.  She had the curtains drawn so the room was dark.  She was on the floor worshipping the Lord, her hands upturned, tears streaming down her face ~

I lift my eyes to you
Eyes that have seen a thing or two
Who is this stranger in my life?

 

I lift my hands to you
Hands that have carried what is true
Intimate stranger be my life

And my heart swelled in the moment, watching her so unaware, just loving her Savior, consecrating anew.  And she sang along with Rita Springer,

Jesus I love you
Jesus I adore, I adore You
Jesus you still have my affection
and my song will be “I love you”

And I cried in the memory and thought how blessed that room is.  And in all the years she waited, Dessa did not wait alone.  She has been a faithful bride to Christ.  And she loved Him.  And He has loved her back.

And in two weeks, she will join Ryan at an altar.  And God will be a witness and He, like me I bet, will be remembering all the lovely songs she has sang to Him and will be thinking what a blessed man Ryan is to get her.

Tre-Tre, you are going to be the most ravishing bride, both inside and out.  The most.

 

 

“Be with the friends who are here”

Yes.  I saw it on Pinterest.**  So follow me already.

Social media.  Smart phones.  Pinterest…It’s so…social.  And smart.  But there are drawbacks…

But I ADORE Pinterest and am actually having fun “getting acquainted” with the styles and taste and heart of some young women I have sort of known.  And I get majorly inspired.   The young woman of today are crazy-amazing.  There is a creative-anointing on them for home-making and caring for their families that probably hasn’t been seen since King Lemuel’s mother explained the whole virtuous woman thing to him (Proverbs 31).  They are unashamedly putting their husbands and children first, cooking healthy, making the home beautiful and glowing with gorgeousness themselves (my own daughters are great examples of this), all the while running a business or three on the side.

If there is one small I thing I hope doesn’t happen (yet I see danger lurking)  is that in all the ways social media, texts, Tweets, email bells, and online surfing can fill up the days, I hope moms and their kids will still actually interact face to face and not just on Facebook.  I hope husbands and wives talk and make wild love more than they text.  I hope grandparents will get to hug their grandbebes more than they get to have Skype sessions with them.  I hope people will remember to unplug for no good reason, other than to be, just be, where they are and with the people they are with.

Penelope (1966) starring Natalie Wood

During a tedious wedding project, I watched a colorful, pretty-delightful-romp of a movie with Natalie Wood in the title role.  It had a tiny bit of slapstick-Greenwhich Village-Bohemian-1960s-artsy thing.  It had a banking executive and some high-society jewels and a yellow Givenchy suit to-die-for all based around Penelope, an engaging and intelligent, yet somewhat ditzy girl who pretty much enchanted every man in the movie.  “Picture a girl who walks with the rhythm of a lady tigerPicture a girl who talks with the sweetness of a honey bee…this is Penelope” the opening credits song explained.  And I actually grabbed a pencil to capture these words, which made me think of Facebook and all of the ways and options we can communicate with these days.

Penelope: I never open my mail. I usually stick it away in a drawer and then I actually forget about it or it gets lost.

Banker: Don’t you lose a lot of friends that way?

Penelope: Oh no. It’s just the opposite. You see, if you write me a letter and I answer it, then you have to answer mine. Then I answer your second letter and you have to write me a third in answer to my second. Then I have to write you a third and you have to send me a fourth. And pretty soon we’re so busy writing letters to each other, we haven’t had time to be friends.

[silence as these words hang in the air]

Penelope: Isn’t that true?

Banker concedes: Yes.

The first couple of minutes are the totally-groovy-1960s opening song.  Right about 5:29 you can catch a glimpse of the gorgeous Natalie in the yellow Givenchy suit. wearing a red wig.  Worth the look!

I am pondering.  Just want to make sure I am communicating correctly, in the most honest and advantageous way.  In the most friendly, truly friend-ly way possible.  With true friends.

**I do love me some Pinterest!  www.pinterest.com/jeanierhoades/

I think they can dance

A scene from one of my all-time fav movies.

White Christmas, 1954.  Les Clark (maybe??) and Vera Ellen dancing.  I truly believe she was THE inspiration for the Barbie doll which showed up just a few years later.  Yes, she had a 19″ waist, but she lived in utter depression and in a hermit-lifestyle almost her whole life.  But the girl could dance!

Dancing, 1954.  But the music??  NOT your father’s {original} music.  It SO works!

 

Song{s} for a Sunday // The Carpenters

The Carpenters, 1969-1973.

Yes, I treated myself today.  It is sunny and gorgeous.  A singing kind of morning.  Even on my old vinyl, the girl’s smooooooooooooth voice is still o-my-gosh!

“Close to You” was my first Carpenter song ever, one of the greatest songs of all time.  “Good-Bye to Love” was my favorite song when I was eleven.  With the possible exception of “Top of the World,” which was “re-written” for church-singing (and I sang with Jayne and JJ Dixon in Cedar Rapids and later with Cheryl Bardwell in Robert, Lousiana I do believe), I love almost every song they have ever done like crazy.  I just think I over-heard/sang “Top of the…” too many times and Karen’s mournful, deep heart stuff is her true genius.

Yes, I can listen on iTunes, too.  But the records really, really take me back…Yesterday Once More.

 

Dammed Love.*

A wine bottle corked.

The river dammed.

The door closed.

The singer silenced.

A balloon tied in place.

The song unsung.

The letter unread.

The adventurer shut in.

Memories boxed up.

A mess contained.

The words deleted.

The music faded.

Feelings repressed.

Appetite curbed.

Senses restrained.

Passion censured.

On the sidelines, unchosen.

No secrets shared.

No hands are held.

Like a writer with no pen…

So does love, unanswered, unreceived crush the soul.

But love anyway.  Love conquers all.

I wrote this sometime ago and am no poet, so I let it sit.  Thought maybe I’d try to polish it up and make it flow better, or use better imagery, even though these things make sense to me.  But today, when I re-read it and got to the end, I remembered a song I once heard Martina McBride sing on American Idol, the only time I’ve ever actually heard it.  And it seems like it belongs here.  All is not lost.  All is not futile.  And especially for “C” today, when so many things feel so heavy and your heart feels like it cannot hold another hurt, hang in there, sweet friend.  Love anyway.

*Dear Mama (who taught me to always sing anyway)-I did not cuss.  This is like a dam in a river. xxoo

Tristan and The Thought Process

This is so cool!

Tristan (world’s greatest drummer) recently went in to the recording studio with his friend, Sean Blancherd, and some other guys and here is what I know from the website:

The Thought Process:

Sean Blanchard – Bass

Tristan Kelley – Drums

Brer Rabbit – Vox

Special Guest:

Jon Wirtz – Keys

The Thought Process started as just that, a thought that bassist Sean Blanchard has had over the past few years while playing and touring with some other amazing artists. “What would it sound like if certain styles of music were mixed over the bass grooves that were filling up my computer?” The two styles that kept coming into play, hip hop and jazz. Thus, The Thought Process was born.

Groove oriented story telling, melodies, in the pocket drum and bass, with an intellectual vocal vibe.credits

released 25 October 2011

Available for immediate download today.

I am so {obviously} not the hip-hop demographic, but I wholly love good lyric and jazz just folds me in, melts me a little.

Plus?  So proud of Tristan!

In other music and the arts news…

Dave and Tara have a single or two coming out soon, as well!  We have been waaaaaaaaiting for this!

One of my all-time favorite songs, “A Million Stars” is going to be such a blessing to you!!  It is to me.

And – my best friend and full-time lover [Dave Rhoades, of course], is debuting in Prairie Playhouses’ Is He Dead?” A New Mark Twain Comedy.

There are 4 performances scheduled in Oct. and Nov.  Opening night is Friday!  So cultured, aren’t we?  ;)  http://www.prairieplayhouse.com/productions/ishedead Hope to see you there (The Brighton Armory).

I love the arts.   I love my {talented} family and God has surrounded me with light and color and melody and song.  The hills are alive with the sound of music….

Congratulations on the very awesome release today, Tristan!

“The autumn leaves are falling down…”

My Grandma Hallet gave me a Roger Williams piano music album when I was eight.

I don’t really know why, necessarily.  It was used, so she probably got it at a yard sale or a thrift store because she did not have money, really, to spend.  It was probably a birthday gift.  It wasn’t groovy or cool, but she knew I loved music and was never far from my little record player.  And so I came to love it.  And especially the song, “Autumn Leaves.”  I secretly danced to it…

 

This leaf drifted from a tree in my front yard yesterday and landed at my feet, like a gift.  I will probably play with it at www.picnik.com at some point, but this is just as it came.  And truly, the autumn produces colors like no other, does it not?  Glory.  That is the color of fall.  What started green and bright and light, unfurling after a stark winter, now reaches its’ full and most beautiful stage, and having held on with strength and determination throughout the summer, through both drought and drenching rains, now falls, now tumbles.  Now, peacefully and content with itself, dances right down before me, a gift.  Glory.

Missing my Grandma Hallet.  I wish she could know what her gentle spirit meant to me.

Weekend wedding

Dave & Tara did the pre-ceremony music for Patrick & Tia’s wedding

They sang and read scripture out on the Red Lion Inn’s grassy lawns.  It was early evening and the canyon was clear and lovely, fall just barely beginning to make its’ presence known causing lovely texture in the hint-of-changing leaves.

 

Tia’s amazing smile was absolutely contagious.  It was a lovely setting for a beautiful wedding with amazing food!  Congratulations, Patrick and Tia.  Love you!!

Um, ok, yes :: it is a bit shaky. It was my iPhone and I was trying to “peek” around the shoulder of another guest to get the footage. How about that sound, though, huh? Between those super slim and gorgeous Bose speakers and a handy little piece of Apple genius, not too shabby. :)

Music on a Monday – the Burt

Today I Bacharached.

Yes.  I pulled out the Burt Bacharach albums (old vinyls – LPs!) and listened while I worked.

With all the great music there is to listen to, it isn’t often I get to Burt, but he has undeniably written a truckload of great stuff in my lifetime.  “Wives and Lovers, “Walk on By,” and “Any Day Now,” to name a few.  Also, “What’s New Pussycat?” and “What the World Needs Now is Love.”  I love “One Less Bell to Answer, ” and “This Guy’s in Love with You.”  Of course he wrote, “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head.”  Great songs!  “I Say a Little Prayer,” is fun and “Alfie” was a big hit.

This is my all-time favorite Burt song, though it is much less know.  And it is newer, not on my vinyls.  It is from the  movie (“the” movie) “Grace of My Heart.”

God Give Me Strength