[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > More nauseatingly self aggrandizement. Loathe this pig.
Thank you Bob for using this quote in a way that made me laugh! I am going to get T-shirts made... 9-11, yesterday was the 25th anniversary of my ordination. I proposed and co-produced our community September 11th service - we had about 675 people present, I live in a town of 8,000, do the math on the percentage - what would anyone do? You all know my politics - very leftist Democrat in small town Republican western Michigan - and you know that a certain percentage of this community thinks that I am a spawn of Satan because I am <gasp> gay and <gasp> Christian and <gasp gasp gasp> an open and out pastor. Gossip loves it even more because I work full time to support my ministry to adults in foster care, working full time as legal assistant and office manager for the love of my life and my former partner, the former city attorney, who is slowly sinking off the deep end with this own madness and his little whore. And in a small town like this, everything is hidden, but nothing is secret. All I heard today was from people who were not at our community service, who told me that they heard how good it was, I can truly say it was the talk of the town - the service went from 6:30 until 9:00 and maybe 10 people at most left early and it ended with the people in a standing ovation. The service skillfully avoided politics, controversy, and satisfied the small peace contingent in the community, and our American Legion/VFW folks... a whole slew of Republican county people came to me and thanked me for what we did last night and they don't do that easy here, not thanking me, the vice chair of the local county Dems and a candidate in the last county election. The Bush campaign people thanked me, so you know I hit the right note of being non-partisan, which may astound you who read my political posts, but actually, I have a bit of a reputation for knowing when and where to be partisan and when and where not to be, and last night was not the time or place. We were perhaps the only memorial service in all of America that did NOT sing God Bless America , no flags, or do anything jingoistic or chauvinistic in its original sense - and I worked damned hard to have it come out that way, and even more, for no one to notice what we didn't do because they were enthralled, moved, touched by what we did. I think almost everyone cried at some point last night, because what we did was effective. My entire congregation was there, in the wheelchairs, and the only African American family in the community, my people, there at the service, And I chanted the litany - 10 minutes of me singing - you all never heard me sing, I cannot sing, I cannot hold key, but I chant beautifully (took voice lessons to learn how) but it takes me a lot, a lot, a lot of practice so I can hold key, and breathing exercises and I drank a gallon of water before the service to keep my throat moist, and I have never done it before a crowd that size and I haven't done the litany in maybe 15 years and I was doing it with an organist who had never done it. Performers out there - how do you feel when you go out for the biggest performance of your life with a musician whom you only met two days before, with whom you never worked, and with whom you had less than 5 minutes of practice, who had never played what you were doing? Damn straight I nailed it! Given everything, to stand before a crowd of that much of my community, on such a day, with all the emotion involved, knowing what some folks think of me - to do a liturgical chant that was new to many of them, let alone by organist - and sing out, Lord, have mercy - Christ have mercy - Lord have mercy... the choir, seated right behind me, fell into my rhythm and I led, they answered, I led, they answered, it flowed, it was beautiful. Now I could tell you about all the times in other services that I hit wrong notes, but you performers out there, you know what it is that I felt, the same pride that Paz showed in his Ruth Paz tapes, that same moment that you really want to come through and so much is riding on it and you know you nailed it, you know one time you got it right in the most daunting of circumstances - and when you have that joy of having done well, you share it with your friends - so I bragged a bit last night in my post. As I am now. I have heard the word "arrogant" applied to me - self aggrandizement would be another term - Bob Seger sings of being on stage, trying to give yourself way - pastor, singer, actor, whatever, we know when we hit it it, and when we miss. Last night was my grand slam, the service as a whole, the sung litany... I unwound last night going off a bit on the Edmund Fitzgerald. More know it all Vince going on and on and on as if he knows everything, yeah, I know. Lay on my bed, prop the pillow, and you will see a large poster of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. To your left, a framed picture of the Edmund Fitz on the St Claire River. To your right, a framed picture of the Straits of Mackinac, and of the last ferry boat before the bridge was built, and I am old enough to have ridden that ferry boat. Sit at my computer where the most important books in my life are all in arms reach, and to my left, on the shelves next to my next, Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivors, the Edmund Fitzgerald edition, by Wm. Ratigan which is next to, can you guess which Gordon Lightfoot song is being quoted, The Gales of November, by Robt. J. Hemming. They are next to my extensive Titanic collection, which is a warning to never start a discussion on Titanic... [Gage story: my grandchild can tell you what an orlop deck is, where the squash court was located, the tensile strength of 1912 steel in ice cold water because of its carbon content, and we have a weekly ritual of looking at the piece of coal that was on the Titanic that I bought at the Chicago exhibit in 2000 - and he is proud because he is the only person in the world who knows where I keep my Titanic coal hidden so it will not get lost.] And this is another long Vince post, how boring, but let me tell you, for all the stuff that i have posted on, I do not post on: Joni tunings - I have no idea what an open tuning is, since I do play guitar or any instrument other than 1 finger piano, which i play to practice chanting and sound out new hymns Joni lyrics - not since 1999, when I misread A case of You and was so soundly embarrassed I have never ventured a Joni lyric interpretation again martinis or other drinks - I am allergic to alcohol (no problem, very economical) so I know nothing about mixed drinks Jonatha Brooke or other artists not in Rolling Stone top ten album sales, because I have never heard of 90% of the artists everyone loves, but you do know I will wax eloquently on how Eminem is the Mozart of our generation and Linkin Park are the prophets of our age. Jazz. Like sprouts and hummus, I know it is good for me, but not on my plate, in my lifetime. I don't understand it, like it, and I know it is my limitation so I say nothing about it. David Lynch movies. Cinema slut I am, I don't like his work but I don't say anything because as Eminem's mother said, if you can't say something nice, then shut the fuck up. Gourmet dining/cooking/chic restaurants. With all of my food allergies, the #1 item in my refrigerator is non fat soy milk, not a gourmet item, and I am too cheap to buy any food in a restaurant that costs more than what I make in one hour of work - plus I couldn't it anyway probably. Cats. I never post on cats. Had two good cats, the only good cats that ever lived, they died, no other cat is worth having in my opinion, and as Eminem's mother said... Cricket. Soccer. Rugby. Know nothing. Say nothing. French poets. I never post on French poets. Or 18th century English poets. I can do a riff on late 20th century Russian poets, but to whom? So I never post on these topics. Joni concerts other than the three I have been at. Joni trivia, Which version of MOA has what spoken dialogue. I just don't know! Cars. Star Trek. Rodeos. County western music. Foreign travel. (I have been to Canada a few times; Mags, here is your Canada mention, I can vouch, Canada exists.) Gay porn, Joni body parts, Joni's private life, Joni's partners, male anatomy, animal husbandry, sound systems, how to cut a cd, problems with anything Microsoft. These have all been threads in the JMDL at some point since I joined in late 98, not sure why some of them were threads at all, and I avoided all of them. Never posted to them. Either knew nothing, thought it was in bad taste, or thought it was none of my business. So this is just a nauseating sample of the things that I do not post about. And never will. I always post on the anniversary of Janis Joplin's death and Kent State and Martin Luther King's death, but those are always one-line posts. So next time I am boring the hell out of someone, and aggravating you with my know it all ism or my arrogance about what I do post about, be thankful that there is such a list of these and other topics that I will never post about. But know that when I do post, it is not because I like to show off my knowledge or else I would do a comparative analysis of the western liturgy in the Roman, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, and other protestant traditions, or the conflict between pietism and Grundtvig's teachings in 19th century Denmark and 20th century Danish American communities. But I have never posted on those subjects, never will. I always post because someone has posted something that gets me thinking, and I share that with my friends, my Joni family. And if you don't like what I post, you have the option of being really cheerful when you delete my posts, or set up your filters to delete all my posts as they come in so they are never in your inbox. Or tell me privately what an asshole I am. Because sometimes I am and I need to know that, too. Speaking of obscure artists I know nothing about: Linda Thompson is on Letterman right now, and I don't get it, even having read the extensive Tribune articles about her, and hearing the NPR show on her, and all, she is someone else who I know is a great artist and it escapes me. If i were booking for Letterman's show, I would book all the JoniFest acts, and Linkin Park, and Eminem, and Aretha Franklin, and Neil Young, and Joni. And all the rap groups I love. Maybe that is why I am stuck here in rural western Michigan, being such a bore in cyber space, you think? boring and arrogant as ever, Vince who will not be here for a dew days, so your prayers have been answered! Off to Chicago to see the Stones.
