The 9th day of Christmas: A new year begins

1/2

Pat O and the daily check in with the construction guys.

Jeremy M and I reviewing the music for Sunday’s Epiphany service celebrating the visit of the Wise Men, the Three Kings…the Magi…who also happen to be Jeremy’s band. There’s a listening party going on in the gym, (  a preview of a sound calendar, a sound a day recorded for a year...) so the Magi have moved their rehearsal down to the sanctuary. Dan arrives to go to dinner with me and we stop to listen to the rehearsal awhile. Jeremy and the Magi playing tomorrow night at the Living Room in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with our old friend from Occupy, Catherine Feeny (http://www.catherinefeeny.com/) who met Jeremy at her concert at West-Park two years ago when she was back in the city for a court date. Jeremy’s also celebrating the release of his new music video.

Anna has a few issues and concerns and Blueberry the dog with her. Ready for Open Mic.

Anna's insights

But first….because of construction, Open Mic is changed to the sanctuary so Dan and I are running errands and moving things around for RL so the show can go on.  First up is Wayne Johnson.

Wayne sings with joy

It’s been a long time since he’s been here. He’s got a story. A lot’s happened. But his tenor is high and strong. And he opens with a moving…and joyful…Joyful, Joyful we adore Thee… keeping the Christmas spirit going.  Next up is Anna with her reflections on strange goings on of the Internet.  Steve B has his last set before heading out for a Florida vacation.

Steve B at the piano

He hangs in to do another improvisatory set with Joel Gold. David Lyons shows how much he’s grown with a confident set.

David Lyons with confidence

It seems to be spoken word unchained tonight with our own Dion, the self-styled King of the Open Mic,Peter Pan

He calls himself Peter Pan

and the sui generis stylings of James.

James

Happily, RL steps in breaks up the stream of words with his own songs.  Mandola Joe has a wonderful eons spanning Kipling poem for us.

Mandola Joe

And Pat O is ever expanding what he does with his pedal board taking his acoustic guitar to ever new places.

The magic pedals

I go back to all originals for my set, including Lonely Hearts, actually a hopeful song, and then  two Pittsburgh songs, my Queen…song played on a  strumstick (This time I win) and finish with spending time with you.

Mostly there’s a sound  in tne sanctuary you just don't get anywhere else. Nice, round  and full.

There’s no way to end except with Stay Awhile. A new year has begun.

Performance and the Sacred: continuing the conversation

7/28

Sam, one of the young Dzieci comes in wanting to start some rehearsals for his late August Cymbeline with Ryan. No problem.

A woman is looking for the Seed Group meeting, but I think it’s not until tomorrow night. She sees the bowl with Angelo Romano’s angelitos, smiles, asks what they are. I point to the art work in the sanctuary from Angelo, explain that they are original pieces of art work and have spiritual power. And I invite her to take one. She smiles again. Holds it close. Thanks me. Goes to look for the group.

Priska found Woodshed’s storage room open and lots of valuable things vulnerable so closed the access from the  inside and her studio to keep everything safe. And expresses her thanks for RL  keeping an eye out for her and helping her out.

7/29

Jeremy G is back from a wedding in Nashville, Mario from upstate and Rishika has just been here. Time to evaluate last Friday’s conversation on Performance and the Sacred. Pretty well met expectations. We talked again about the difference between the Work Center folks interacting with existing congregations and the emerging community that comes for the Open Choir and Seed Group. People have historically joined churches out of a belief and Roman Catholic and Church of Christ churches do have a set of beliefs that define particular communities. People come to the Seed Group from many and no faith perspectives seeking a particular experience.

The question is, can that experience be the basis of building a community of mutual accountability and capable of reaching out to others?  That continues to be an open  question, but I want to explore it. And Jeremy G and Rishika are interested in seeing what will happen. We also continue the discussion of what it means to use words that you don’t believe. Mario says that there have been attempts to change words of songs, but that seems to change the song. And Mario talks about how each person is challenged to find their own song.  

And I continue to wonder how this all connects with West-Park as a church, and am willing to wait and see what develops.

Jeremy M and his band the Magi are in the sanctuary rehearsing for a big gig they’ve got coming up at the renowned Falcon upstate. Opening for Arc Isis. 

RL is in for a lengthy review of all current realities, concerns, open issues, etc. 

Time to leave for a gathering and discussion with Rick and Kitty Ufford-Chase about Stony Point. (http://stonypointcenter.org/)

Good to be back home

6/23

Back at last!!! Let me apologize to our readers for blog silence over the last week. I was involved in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in what proved to be a truly historic meeting.  The spotlight issues included granting Presbyterian ministry the right to perform same gender marriages (in states where these are legal), a proposal to change our constitutional definition of marriage to two people instead of a man and a woman, and divestment from Caterpillar, Hewlitt-Packard and Motorola because of their profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. (More will be written about these in the coming week.) Out of the spotlight, important work was done on issues that impact urban ministry, including a review of draconian drug policy and its impact on communities if color—a proposal originated in San Francisco and co-sponsored by West-Park--, and a call for a new study of urban ministry taking account of the urbanization of the suburbs and the suburbanization of the inner city.  And the election of one of our lectionary study group members, Larissa Kwong Adazia as Vice-Moderator. (The last time New York City had someone  elected to national office was 1982 when my predecessor West-Park Pastor, Bob Davidson, was elected Moderator. There is much to catch up on and I will do my best over the course of the week to do so. Thanks for your patience…

(you can read my Tweets from General Assembly at @RLBRASHEAR #pcusa#Ga221)

Now back to West-Park. Saturday, June 21^st, we joined the rest if the city in celebrating the solstice and Make Music New York day with a full day of music inside the church and on the steps. The day began inside with a set by Andy Craig

Andy Craig

with electric folk and original music on his bass and computer. Andy was followed by Bulgarian classical and new music pianist Tania Stavreva,https://www.facebook.com/TaniaStavreva.Official )

Tania Stavreva

who after explorations of Satie and new music concluded with Bach. Our own Debra Griner and Robin Greenstein with traditional folk and country.(http://www.robingreenstein.com/) (http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/DebraGriner)

Jeremy Mage and one of his Magi, Emilio, opened up a hot set outside with keyboard, cajon and electric guitar. I joined on some vocals and then Jeremy and I did a rendition of I Know You Rider…People were literally dancing in the streets.(http://jeremymage.com/ )

Bob and Jeremy

Joel Gold brought his improvised spoken word outdoors and then Pat O’Connell his Americana and added Jeremy on keyboard.

Pat O and Jeremy

Jeremy and Emilano

Alia Alhan  from Kazakhstan brought the show back inside for a set of traditional Kazakh music and classical. 

After I left for a wedding in Chappaqua, there were sets by Friday night sound man and rocker David Smythe and Mandola Joe, banjo phenom Nick Lantigua (our Open Mic all-stars_ and our own RL Haney. Which of course, finished with Stay Awhile. It was truly a celebration of West-Park’s musical identity.

The one and only Joel Gold

I came back after the wedding to join Berik and Leila in a glass of wine celebrating the successful opening of their latest show, Innovation of Art. A truly beautiful day of celebration. It’s good to be back home.

For Pat's album from Make Music New York go to....
https://www.facebook.com/jpoconn/media_set?set=a.10203140072716973.1073741835.1061747492&type=1

United

11/15

Jeremy Mage and the Magi and Catherine Feeny

George, Marc and Marsha of the Interfaith Assembly on Housing and Homelessness meet in my office. Although we struggle every year, this year seems worse. Some funding sources drying up. Somehow with his own sweat and tireless energy Marc has kept this Assembly going for almost three decades. But there’s always a certain chaotic quality, a certain frustrating scramble to stay alive. Wears people out. But that’s all so familiar, I understand. And hang in there with Marc. I can see so clearly how it could come together, the kind of grassroots, congregation by congregation organizing it would take to do it. Marsha and George have come up with some strategies. We’ll have to get the executive committee to buy in, but it’s a possible way to weather the storm. The most exciting thing we’ve got going is the new program with homeless veterans. A reality that should not even exist.....

RL is wanting reassurance that his open mics and showcases still will have a chance...

Anna is in with puppy for a conversation Suggests that if we could get into distribution of food and services for dogs, we’d have a growing church. And we could give music lessons to the kids in the projects and we could offer homework  help and a quiet place to read and ...she tells me of her years at Chicago U, her dad, her brother and sisters...community living situations she’s been in..a Fred Newman cult....more than I’ve known. For all that she wrestles with, she’s clearly brilliant and creative. She looks at me, I know I give you a hard time, y’know? But really, you deserve to have more people hear you. When you teach, when you preach, I hang on every word. Fuckin A, every word...

Look up and see Jamie. Tours. And tours. Jamie’s got a revolving circle of schools and brokers and non-profits and arts groups coming through for tours. She needs the place more in order. Needs to to look more like we’re serious. I’m always fascinated by the looks and reactions of people as they pass through our space.  Sometimes makes me defensive. 

The drawn out negotiations with Noche are wearing me out. We have lunch at Popover’s. When I get back, Nate is sitting behind Danielle’s desk. I’m so glad soemone’s taking charge around here, I say, just what I need. You wrap this up, I’m going to go home and kick back awhile... He laughs. ...if only...

Marc has started getting the sound set up for tonight’s concert. Getting late in the day..I need to run home and change. Glad my son Nate will be helping out. Anxious as to what our turnout might be given that we're up against the People’s Bailout, an Occupy Faith event at the Village Church, live streaming of the telethon at Le Poisson Rouge...I decide to just  let it be. 

When I get back to the church, Martin has arrived. I take him back to my office. Two cold Lagunitas. What do we have to do to get this done? We talk. OK, let’s get our people here tomorrow and finish the papers....He goes out to join his mom and daughters for the concert.  People are starting to stream in. OK, this will be OK.

Catherine is watching Jeremy warm up. Asks me how my day was. Long. 

What did you do?

 Meetings.Negotiations, Meetings. People. Negotiations...and I smile.

I’m happy to see my friends Beppe and Liljana. And my neighbor Ric, who among his many other lives, works the music business. I’m anxious for his opinion of Jeremy and Catherine. And I’m especially happy to see that Jane and her Sanctuary team held their meeting earlier so that they could be there for Jeremy. 

Jeremy opens. Hitting his grooves like the night I caught him in a midnight show at the Bluenote.  He brings Catherine out to join him on his Brechtian cabaret style Let’s take the whole year off...swapping verses and harmonies. During Jeremy’s acoustic guitar songs, I notice there’s a character near me, whistling, loudly, not bad, but loudly...We’re approaching the border of anxious moment territory here..I ask Ric who says give him one more song...There’ something familiar about his looks, his whistling...Took me a long time to figure it out, Rastaman, the occupier, Rastaman..same dreads, same whistling...is this like a rasta thing? Rastawhistle?  Later before Catherine begins, I go over and say gently, somewhat anxiously, bring it down my brother, bring it down...thankfully he nods and does...

Catherine and uke

Catherine begins with her uke, her Spill it all over the ground...She’s got this voice that pierces with its beauty, but also quirky, coming in at an angle, lyrically enchanting and intelligent....I enjoy hearing her songs raw, without the range of accompaniment on her albums. She brings Jeremy and the Magi out for some songs. Then at the end, brings him back for her new anthem from Occupy, United... and for an encore jams with him on  Hurricane Glass...

Soon we’ll head to Slightly Oliver for food, drinks, conversation about music, Occupy, progressive and emergent religion...

Feeling good about having put the night together. Get a text from my friend Beppe. Thoroughly enjoyed all the concert. Catherine is irresistible. I love your  church!

Jeremy, Bob, Catherine

Me too (sometimes) me too. 

Star quality: these quiet beautiful moments

11/13

Last night at the Presbyterian  Welcome Event, Janet said that when se was in the city, West-Park would be her home. That felt good. 

Mornngs in the studio, Solead is taking privare ballet lessons. Teddy found a portable bar to make the lessons go easier. Even on eif the world’s greatest dancers can have the desire to learn.

Solomon from St. Agnes is by himef today. teddyhas him moving balck boxes to the gym for Miriam who’s perfomance is opening thsi weekend. Apparently, they’ll be the seats.

Teddy and Marc have to remove Rachelle’s stuff in order to et to Marc’s cable equipment which he has to set up for Jeremy M’s soundcheck rehearsal with Caherine Feeny for later that night.

Leila, Glena and Christmas Child

Bob and Leila

Leila has arrived to work with Glen and I on the Christmas Child Project. John R joined with his colleagues at work to come up with much needed children’s flip flops and othrr supplies. We’re gathering crayons, pencils, erasers, school supplies, socks...to pack in shoe boxes to send to children in over 100 countries, having begun in Bosnia during  the war 20 years ago. I head out to the dollar store to get some socks and other items. The work goes well and we help cary the boxs to a cab for Glen to take to the drop off point at First Baptist. 

On my way back from the dollar store, I see Martin and Nyelli heading off for a talk. They ask where to go. I point to the B. So, let’s get this wrappedup, OK? I say. Martin says we’ll talk.

Jeremy M has start rhearsal with his band, the Magi. A neighbor comes in, asking about the sound. At first, I thnk tha she’s loving it but then I realize that’s not the case.  So I explain the situation. Figure it’s time for a conversation with RL at his office. 

When I get back, Jeremy G comes in to see how his moveout is going. He’s wearing a suit, fresh from an interview.  Martin has returned. Tells me Nayelli will talk to us in the morning. We step inside to hear the rehearsal. I see that Catherine has joimed Jeremy and the band. She’s playing her ukelele. He’s working to find her song, join in it. We enjoy the craft together. Tells me he’ll be bringing his daughter. 

At the break, I greet Catherine. Tell her I’m glad she’s there. As how the European tour went. And the court date. For the Zucotti arrest. Jeremy tells me another neighbor has been in to talk. Seems lke he handked it better tha I would have. We’ll make it work. 

Catherine has a plastic cup of Guiness and one for me from Teddy.I’m reflecting on an experince earlier in the day.  After all these years of ministry, I’m still nit sure how to deal wit conflicts that break out between congregants. If two people say, help us resolve this, I’ve got ways to do that . (Still waiting to be tested....I’d love to try...) But when neither person is interested, I’m uncertain. I hear words that fly right past each other. Tempers rising. I can say stop, but that’s it. I envy catholic priests, black Baptist preachers. They start out with assumed authority. They speak, congregants listen. Something in our reformed theology and poity mitigates against that. And part of my personality. Like Soledad studying ballet, I need to keep working on it.

I sit and listen, entranced by the rehearsal process, watching two musicians who’ve never met beginning to discover each other in their music. I feel a sense of satisfaction, having set up this collaboration. Thinkin gback ot other rehearsal nights. Like the night before Andre’s concert. With Erasmia. These quiet beautiful moments. 

Catherine packs up her uke. Slings her guitar over her shoulder. I tell her I’ll see her Thursday. As she leaves, Jeremy walks over to me. Star quality, he says. These quiet beautful moments. Almost enough.

We call it marriage

12/26

George has come from Florida.  Another from a gay couple who have been together many years who have gotten tired of waiting for their home state to come around and have decided to get married anyways. A weekend trip to New York on New Years’ weekend. He’s moved by our church’ long commitment to marriage equality and that we call it marriage, not a blessing of a union. And the story of the Steven window moves him as well. I hope to see he and his fiancee soon. 

A young white man was asleep on the steps when I got there. Teddy was going to try  and find out his story while I met with George. 

A big meeting with our center board and how to move forward with our 501c3 with a Union student who’s had a career in non-profits before beginning seminary. Mim. Ted, Katherine, Danielle and I are all around the table. The discussion at least  brings clarity. 

I’ve still got my service to plan and my longtime friend Jean has arrived early. I’m able to direct her to the Met while I finish my work. When she returns, Jeremy and his group the Magi are rehearsing for their Saturday night gig at the Village jazz landmark the Blue Note. He writes intelligent lyrics and has a solid pop sensibility that allows him to weave in his catalogue of musical experiences seamlessly while laying down a groove with hooks that crawl into your head. 

As I give her the tour of the building, the cast and crew of You Will Make a Difference are arrivng and getting ready for their Friday night performance. Teddy is finishing work on a redo of Noche’s floor. She sees the life that fills this space.

And somewhere, the contract is being worked on.