A few days ago, a fellow chaplain was leading our devotion after morning report, and did the Lord's Prayer in Maori, translated into English. The Lord's prayer is one of my favorite rituals of Christian religion, and I feel this version takes it to a new level. The text below is an English translation of the Maori wording.

Eternal Spirit, earth-maker, pain-bearer, life giver,
source of all that is and that shall be,
father and mother of us all,
loving holy one in whom is heaven:

may it happen in the way it is good to you;
may it happen on earth in the same way
as it happens in spirit world.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil free us.

For you live in the glory of power that is love, now and forever,
now and forever.
Amen

pax hominibus,agape to all,joel

PS- I got a great night's sleep last night while working on-call. During my sleep, I had a great dream in which I found a penny-sized coin that had been minted to look like a Melvin's album cover, though not really the one linked here.

Labels: Christianity, melvins, prayer

In case you need a little levity, check here.

lyrics: Something or other by the Melvins off the ACID30bTextMix.MusicForAGoodWorkday mix. See picture below (click for full view).

colors: Orange, blue, and grey.

mood: Overwhelmed.

chant/prayer/mantra: Focus.



pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: melvins, music, onion, sustenance

Tuning: D#G#C#F#A#D# (mnemonic: David Geffen Company, Free and Demonstrative), or D#A#F#D#A#D#, or Standard Tuning.

Played: With the spirit of Revolve, by The Melvins (off Stoner Witch, not Electro-Retard.

Intro: [Growing Chant: "Emergency!...." x24, with pulsing single note melody of first string at the ninth fret]

Chorus: [guitar chords (string 6 to string 1, in any of the above tunings):
line 1: 999899, 777677, 444344; "world wake up today!"
line 2: 999899, 777677, 444344; "if you don't we'll be falling in a liminal place)." (bkgd vocals: "that's hell.")
line 3: 777677, 555455, 222122; "world wake up today!"
line 3: 777677, slide into 999899, 777677, 444344; "world wake up today!"

Verse One: [reminder of ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation, and 40-odd other ways we could do ourselves into extinction]

Chorus::
line 1: 999899, 777677, 444344; "world wake up today!"
line 2: 999899, 777677, 444344; "if you don't we'll be blowing into outer space!"
line 3: 777677, 555455, 222122; "world wake up today!"
line 3: 777677, slide into 999899, 777677, 444344; "world wake up today!"

Verse Two: [religious ideologues at each other's throats and media lies, adamant beliefs in the accuracy of the bible, qur'an, book of urantia, texe marrs, blah, blah, blah]

Chorus::
line 1: 999899, 777677, 444344; "world wake up today!"
line 2: 999899, 777677, 444344; "if you don't we may never see divinity's grace!"
line 3: 777677, 555455, 222122; "world wake up today!"
line 3: 777677, slide into 999899, 777677, 444344; "world wake up today!"

Verse Three: [spirit of christ returned after holy spirit got over the whole being xified thing and awoke enstrengthened]

Chorus::
line 1: 779997, 668886, 446664, 224442; "world wake up today!"
line 2: 779997, 668886, 446664, 668886, 446664, 224442, 0022200, 224442; "when you do, blah, blah, nice and cheery, sunshiney face!
line 3: 779997, 668886, 779997; "world wake up today!"
line 3: 779997, 668886, 779997; "world wake up today!"

Fade out:
"A voice cries out through the din."
"And all the peoples awake, all the people will know one another..."
"And all the peoples awake, all the people will love one another..."
"And all the peoples awake, all the people will trust one another..."
"And all the peoples awake, all the people will be with each other..."

"And all the peoples will know one another..."
"And all the peoples will know one another..."

lyrics: See above.

colors: Red, Creamy Off-white, Brown, Yellow, Light-Brown, Blue.

mood: excited, bewildered.

chant/prayer/mantra: l0ve and wAke up!

link: Ron Paul straight talking about the issues.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: guitar, melvins, music, politics, war and peace

Sweet Willy Rollbar, by The Melvins:
1:12 - 1:19 -- some songs are well known for having a good groove. Melvins songs typically have a strong groove to them, but in this section, the groove lurches, stops, and restarts in such a powerful way that the "rhythm" all but causes a fold to open in the fabric of time.

Stranglehold, by Ted Nugent:
7:49 -- Once we get over the concept that the Nuge kills animals of every kind to cook them and make jerky from them, we look back and fondly recall his awesome prowess on the axe. Here are four of the fastest notes ever played, and with such precision.

Rub 'Til It Bleeds, by P.J. Harvey:
Throughout this entire song, the passion of the playing matches the vocals, and though the guitar line mostly just repeats, it is placed perfectly at the very front of the mix! Its rare that a guitar can be so far forward, as if leaping right out of the speaker, and sound right. The guitar tone and break-up are excellent as well.

Strange, by Wire:
Speaking of tone and distortion.... The guitar in this song makes me almost want to cry from envy. Its not the tone I'd want for every song, but I wish I knew exactly how to get that sound. A Big Muff Pi comes close, but I have a feeling this requires a great deal more, as if its happening in a rare expensive 70's Orange amplifier that's had its tubes warming up for hours, preceded by just the right pick-ups. (If you're wondering where you've heard this song before, it's likely the more popular cover version by R.E.M.)

Seether, by Veruca Salt:
Much of the guitar is just Green-Day style distorted punk I-IV-V power chords, but during the in-between times, it's a testament to the beauty of occasional harmonics and fretting sounds when the gain is turned up.


pax hominibus,
joel

Labels: guitar, melvins