Christmas eve at the cottage

as per family tradition we gather up at my parents cottage (off the grid - woodstove and candlelight and lake water only) on christmas eve...

cottage on Christmas eve through trees
Originally uploaded by josh lyon.

invisble college courses

From invisiblecollege.ca, the non-school my parents run in Kingston, ON:

Living Lightly: Rediscovering Sabbath in a 24/7 World
Find it hard to say “no” to more work in a crazy-busy world? Ever wondered what it means that God rested after creating the earth? Only PEI has no Sunday trading—does anyone care any more? What if the earth and our own bodies have built-in rhythms for work-and-rest that cause breakdown when they’re disturbed? How vital are pausing, playing, recreation, celebration and embracing life?

Explore these themes through provocative plenary presentations, written materials and interactive small-group discussion in a five-week evening course. No assignments or credit. Think, talk, question, explore…

Who is the course for?
Anyone who puzzles about a proper balance in life and wants a fresh perspective on priorities. Anyone who wonders if the Bible says anything about corporate time, burn-out or life in fast lanes. Anyone wanting to get in synch with the spirit of deep heaven.

Check out the new course listings at invisiblecollege.ca for upcoming courses...

Encarna 2006

My friend Andrew sent me this... If you can make it, check it out - i saw pics from last year's even that looked amazing!

This is just a quick note to let you know about thisyear's ENCARNA Christmas Worship Installation. It's happening on Fri. Dec. 15 and Sat. Dec. 16, doors open from 7pm-10pm, at St. James United Church (306 Parkside Dr., Waterdown, ON).

ENCARNA is a emerging church style worship event. Participants engage with different interactive and contemplative stations, all at their own pace and direction, bringing people in touch with the Christmas story. There is no preaching, singing, bulletins or ministers. If people want to pray, reflect, discuss,just listen to the music, engage, or not, that's up to each person.

ENCARNA is alternative engagement with the Christmas story - different, perhaps more artsy and postmodern, than your regular pageants orcantatas. For a better sense of what ENCARNA is and if you'dlike to check it out, go to www.myspace.com/christmas_encarna. Last year was the first year we did this event, and we're hoping you'll help us build off the successes of last year. Many people told us it was a deeply meaningful experience, helping them prepare for Christmas. If you know anyone who would be interested in coming to ENCARNA, please pass the word on to them as well. Blessings and peace for this Christmas.

In Christ,
Andrew Hyde
St. James United Church

gospel according to tom

so i've been on a tom waits kick of late and i am very excited about the upcoming orphans 3-disc set... recently compiled a little liturgy of tom waits tunes which i thought i would share with the world. if i really had the time this would be a podcast, but it's not, it's a list:

• Invocation: "Come on up to the house" (Mule Variations)
  
• Creed: "Everything you can think" (Alice)
  
• Confession: "Chocolate Jesus"* (Mule Variations)
  
• Absolution: "Sins" (Real Gone)
  
• Closing: "Way down in the hole" (live version from Big Time)
  
• Blessing: "Jesus Gonna be here" (Bone Machine, although the blind boys of alabama do a great cover too)
  

any other suggestions...? I've been thinking about doing this with other bands too... any suggestions? (btw. they don't have to use so much religious language for this to work...)

* the real genius of this song is the rooster crowing throughout... think about it.

Truth, Lies and Plastic Eyes

Last weekend was the amazing art talks series at ICS sponsored by Imago... Betty Spackman was there to speak about her book: A Profound Weakness: Christians and Kitsch
and her talk was entitled: "Truth, Lies and Plastic Eyes."

Betty had a lot of great things to say and it was nice to see her in person having heard so much from Adrienne Chaplin about her and looking at her work as part of an independent study while I was at OCAD. I have been wanting to write a response to the weekend but haven't had a chance yet so instead I'll post some of my favourite quotes/ideas that came out of the talk and discussions. They are as close to verbatim as possible... I take any responsibility for transcribing them inaccurately - please notify me if I say you said something you didn't. If these don't make sense out of context - also my fault...

"Instead of walking the streets with [Christ],
we hide him in our churches
and drag people in to see Him."
- Betty Spackman

"Christian Kitsch = Faith in drag."
- Betty Spackman

"Truth is what is true but not necessarily factual."
- Madeline L'engle

"Kitsch offers paradise now, bypassing the 'not yet'."
- not sure who said that

"Rational Christians who are emotionally starved turn to Kitsch"
- not sure about this one either

"We are the message - not the objects we create"
- Betty Spackman (on whether art itself can be "Christian")

"Aspire not for greatness but to be the humblest, . . .
creating with joy and freedom, as a child. . ."
- Betty Spackman

Betty also talked about learning the language of the culture around you... which is good, but are you doing it only so you can say what you want to say or so you can listen? Her example was from a missionary in a foreign culture context but she applied it also to the arts...

Another thing that I loved that she said... She compared making art to the feeding of the 5000. Jesus asks what we've got and we respond "I don't have enough. You take it and break it." and then we see what he does with it. Our responsibility falls not in having to feed everyone or make the perfect work of art or craft the most clever message... but simply to offer all that we have, acknowledging our insufficiency and let Jesus do the rest. And somehow, 5000 are fed.

read some other people's notes on Betty here.

sign of the day...

one of the many religious slogans
Originally uploaded by sue the potter.

my parents took this on vacation...

amen.

found

found
Originally uploaded by josh lyon.

FREE HUGS

the music may be a bit too sappy... but nice concept.


toying with public space/personal boundaries...

One by One art show

DSC03769.JPG
Originally uploaded by froesebydesign.

some buddies from Freedomize put on an art/fashion show to raise funds for some good cause and i missed it. but my wife got to go. and some of the art rocked. it was all formatted 1" x 1"... check out the lego ghandi too. and i can't find the website with all the details hence the sketchy 'for some good cause' line.

but i really like this piece of work and i have no idea who did it. if anyone knows, please leave a comment or email me... thanks.

here's the lego ghandi:


DSC03784.JPG
Originally uploaded by froesebydesign.

rockin' in the K-Town

Sick as a dog, playing bass at the Merchant Taphouse in Kingston during 'showcase' week with Colin Munroe.

I didn't pass out or fall over! yeah!

btw. we're playing the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto this week on Thursday opening for Ninja Tunes own Pop Levi. come on out and support local music!

rockin' the supermarket

IMGP2937
Originally uploaded by josh lyon.

on tour with colin, rockin the supermarket on sept 12th. thanks to everyone who came out - what an amazing audience for our third show ever! 150 people? and all cheering like banshees? you kids are too kind. check out colin on myspace (www.myspace.com/colinmunroe) if you want to hear the sort of thing we're rocking. i don't feel bad plugging him coz he rocks and i'm just the bass player. but yeah, i like to thing i help bring the rock to the live show... even from behind my dark curtain. yeah, that's me on the right of the shot.

"pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" - the wizard, from the wizard of Oz.

falling in love... with design

every now and then, i stumble accross someone or something so inspiring it winds up on this ol' blog... my poor, sad, neglected blog. i miss this thing.

but you can't/shouldn't miss this:



design, i love.
music, i love.

myspace, thankyou.

moremusic: Lots of upcoming shows!

So I'm playing bass with Colin Munroe and we're finally touring! check out http://myspace.com/colinmunroe for details... we'll be in Kingston, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, London, etc. around the second week of sept. come out if you can - tell everyone else to come too! rockpoptacular!

Also, my other band (Entire Cities) has some Toronto area shows (ie next saturday - aug 26th)... check out http://myspace.com/entirecities for details... mmm... psychadelic alt-country mayhem!

come out and support live music... rock on.

with love from yer friendly neighbourhood rockstyle lifestar.

soldierman

soldierman
Originally uploaded by josh lyon.

found this little toy soldier beside this demolition site near our house... the elements of the picture just somehow seemed to fit together too well.

54cr3d 5p4c3?

everybody sing: summertime, and the blogger is lazy...

so, it's summer... i was hoping to keep this blog up more faithfully through the summer months but yet again sunshine calls and i have no internet at home and for some reason don't like spending my extra hours at work to keep this up. i have hundreds of things to post about 'coz i'm finally done school and out and about but don't really want to sit in front of the screen... apparently there's a way you can just call in yer blog posts on the phone - but only in the states. too bad.

anyway, latest news is that I'm touring with a band this summer and into the fall, as the bass player no less... (check out Colin Munroe on Myspace) so that should be fun - so glad to be playing music all the time finally! I'll try to keep updating the blog whenever I can and from the road but we'll see how that goes! anyway, i don't mind if y'all don't check back 'till the fall - i'm sure no one feels all that let down but apologies if you are... see you on the flipside!

4:30am - Shots fired...

Image from Toronto Star, basically taken from our front steps.

How you see the world is forever changed when you have a kid.

How you see the world the day that you are awoken at 4:30am by the sound of gunfire on the street in front of the house where you are trying to raise that child is a change that I had no pregnancy holding time during which I could at least grow acustomed to the idea.

Once before I was woken in the wee hours of the morning by what sounded like a round being fired out of some kind of handgun - exactly 6 bangs followed by a woman's scream. Of course that turned out to simply be an exploding power transformer the night the ice fell in the great ice storm that hit parts of Ontario and Quebec a few years back. And the screaming, no doubt someone surprised by the lights going out in a very dramatic fashion.

But Thursday morning was not like that. Although the sounds sounded a lot less like movie gunfire than the transformer did, as I leapt from my bed, I was greeted by the sight of a cop in the middle of the road holding a shotgun... I tried to convince my wife it was simply firecrackers but she didn't buy it. She was out of the bed before I was.

Having experienced firsthand cops firing weapons at citizens during the FTAA protests in Quebec, I have been wary of them ever since... Since Quebec City I have always felt somewhat betrayed by the police and our government - I thought we had a right to peaceful protest but the taste and sting of teargas had lead me to think otherwise.

For the first time in many years, as the cop with the shotgun glanced around nervously at the dark edges of the building across the street, I really understood that they do truly 'serve and protect' far more than I would ever be able to. That cops life was on the line to protect me and my little family - his very life... Obviously that was not his main concern, he was trying to round up a man on the loose, firing at cops and ambulances, having just shot a man a few blocks away. But as a citizen, I thanked God then and there for people who are willing to take on the task of trying to make our streets safe, whether or not i always agree with their methods, attitudes and tactics.

And I prayed for courage in those officers to do their job nobly and peacefully, even in the face of this awful situation. You could see in their stance and hear in their voices that they were afraid (probably as much of simply having to wield deadly force as the potential threat on their own lives) and yet they faced what they had to, thank God...

In Canada, we're the lucky ones. We rarely wake to such things, rarely live in such proximity to threats like that (although it seems, sadly, to be coming more common in Toronto)... I don't think living on our street will ever seem quite so safe. Even last night the darkness brought chills and that funny feeling - peering a little harder into those shadows... looking a little more cautiously at those passing on the street...

(Although yesterday morning I also finally got to talk to neighbours we've been saying hi to for a few months and haven't yet had a good excuse to converse with - funny how crisis bonds people. One of them quipped that, like the house that Garp buys in the John Irving novel "The World according to Garp", our house had been pre-disastered now, less likely for something like that to occur again!)

I don't really know how to sum this all up in the context of this blog... and yet, like most things for me it connects. Violation of the safety of my family in the little space we call home... somehow in some way I don't understand... things have changed... I have changed...

weird days man, weird days.

read the news story here...

pentecost recycling

so last year i posted a flash piece for pentecost (posted here) and just recieved some fresh comments... for those of you interested in using the piece tommorow if it's not too late, simply click on the link in the other post and exchange the '.html' extension in the address bar with '.swf'

(this is usually the easiest way of stealing/using/borrowing flash files. if the naming system is not so straight forward you can always go to VIEW SOURCE and search for '.swf' and then copy the address from the html. while some people may not like you stealing their flash, feel free to borrow mine any time, just let me know it's being used - i always like to hear about and support other peoples creative ventures!)

now that you've learned something, here's the shortcut anyway to save you the trouble: pentecost flash file. of course you'll still need to right click or control click and save target as... as well as having a flash player installed on yer church's computer.

josh lyon remixed by josh lyon

so i discovered another josh lyon on the interweb (owner of joshlyon.com) and was much amused to find out that he also makes music (posted on sparklyfresh.com). so i decided to take one of his tracks (called 'future' as i recall) and remix it. go look for the original on his site and check out my remix here: future remixed (josh lyon vs josh lyon).

lamb in the city

hannah-lamb
Originally uploaded by josh lyon.

these lambs are all over our neighborhood (east side of downtown toronto)... i really like spotting them hiding under bridges, sheltering from the weather.

felted womb

womb-hannah
Originally uploaded by josh lyon.

my wife made this beautiful art piece over an excersize ball out of a whole lot of raw and died wool - mostly shaped in the shower due to the need for a lot of hot water in the felting process!