Update on Socrates Perez Memorial

El Dr. Socrates Osiris Perez; mi Abuelito

My grandfather, the original Socrates Perez, passed away on Thursday morning, July 9th, 2009. While we are deeply saddened by the loss of such a great and loving man, we rejoice in knowing that he is with our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffering no more of the pain of this world.

As we look ahead to honoring the full life of Dr. Perez, we are solidifying plans for his upcoming memorial. Here are the details at the moment:

• The official viewing will take place on Wednesday evening, July 15th, from 5:00-8:00PM at the Baldwin-Fairchild Funeral Home in Winter Garden (428 E Plant St., 34787). For map and directions, please visit http://bit.ly/L9AFZ
• The memorial service will take place on Thursday morning, July 16th, at 10:00AM and will be located at the Henry Chapel in First Baptist Church of Orlando (3000 S John Young Pkwy., 32805). Map/directions at http://bit.ly/f6V9f

We are immensely grateful to all of those who have been so kind and compassionate with our family, offering your support and prayers. Your walking alongside us during this time has meant a great deal to each of us. Please continue to be in prayer for our family, especially for my grandmother, Maria Perez. She has suffered a deep loss and we are closely monitoring her health as she endures this difficult process of grieving.

Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers.

~Socrates Oscar Perez Jr.

What are you listening to?

Got an undiscovered band you’re crazy about? A new album that a good friend has turned you on to? Let’s hear about it! Post your recent favorites as a comment and let’s get some dialogue going!

Here’s a quick list of some of what’s on my playlist lately:

• Joe Pug’s Nation of Heat EP
• Paul Simon’s Graceland
• Raphael Saadiq’s The Way I See It
• Al Green’s Lay It Down
• The Roots’ Do You Want More?!!!??!
• Siah & Yeshua dapoED’s The Visualz Anthology
• Jars of Clay’s The Long Fall Back To Earth
• Joe Henderson’s Mode for Joe
• Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 6 and No. 9
  

Keep ‘em coming!

Soc’s Music-Listening Rundown!

This update is long overdue, so here’s a quick rundown of LOTS of music I’ve been listening to over the past few months. Open up your mind and check it out!

• Be — Common
• Volume One — She & Him
• Dear Science — TV On The Radio
• St. Elsewhere – Gnarls Barkley
• The Odd Couple – Gnarls Barkley
• Electric Arguments – The Fireman
• Narrow Stairs – Death Cab for Cutie
• Grace — Jeff Buckley
• Evolver — John Legend
• Almost and Always – David Mead
• The Renaissance – Q-Tip

By my opinion, these are all worth a listen! But “must-listens” are here on my top 5:

1. David Mead’s Almost and Always
2. Jeff Buckley’s Grace
3. Q-Tip’s The Renaissance
4. Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere
5. Death Cab for Cutie’s Narrow Stairs

Do it!

Fun with SMS!

I love easily staying up to date with whatever I can! Be it Orlando Magic games, the latest news, my friends and family, and whatever info I might want to get at any time. Since I don’t have an iPhone or a phone with a data plan, text messages are the way to go! (My unlimited text plan helps too!)

Here are a few great (and free!) tools that I’ve come to enjoy and use to keep current in this fast-paced world:

Twitter – I’m sure you’ve heard of this snazzy web tool to keep in touch with what your friends are doing. But you can also keep up with your favorite news sources (e.g. CNN, NPR, etc.) and artists/authors/celebrities. If you want updates on your phone, Twitter gives you the option to receive a text message as a source updates. See http://twitter.com

TwitPic — TwitPic allows you to post pictures onto Twitter. Set up your phone and you can easily send a picture message on a whim! See http://twitpic.com

4INFO — This is a recent favorite for me! Set up free alerts for sports scores, stocks, weather, news, and personal reminders. 4INFO allows you personalize updates for sports games to come at various times (lead changes, final score only, each quarter, etc.). You can also opt to receive daily tips, jokes, and trivia just for fun. See http://4info.com

ChaCha — Do the ChaCha! Send a text message to CHACHA (242242) with ANY question, and a guide will do the online research and send you a response! Looking for parking at the game? Want to settle a trivia bet with a friend? This is the way to go! Use keywords (like “w ZIP CODE” for weather) for a quick response. See http://chacha.com

Google — Text one the web’s most used search engines for directions, weather, sports scores, word definitions, and tons more. It’s automated, so it tends to be quicker than ChaCha, but this service is less personalized and at times unreliable. Text GOOGLE (466453) to use it, and be sure to check the website for available features and keywords. See http://google.com/sms

Joopz — This service allows you to send individual or group/mass text messages from the web. You can also easily set up personal reminders to be texted to your own phone. The free version has some feature limitations, but you won’t need their premium service unless you use this heavily. See http://joopz.com

Facebook Mobile — Keep your Facebook page up to date via text message. My personal beef with this is that it doesn’t support T-Mobile. (Honestly, that’s how I got into Twitter in the first place!) See http://register.facebook.com/mobile

Keep surfing for more useful and fun text message tools on the web. (There are LOTS!) I recommend checking your favorite newspaper to see if they offer news alerts. If you find anything interested, comment about it here!

A (Busy) Day in the Life

Whew. Matthew 9 had to be a doozy of a day for Jesus! Then again, He’s Jesus.

In one day, He:

• debated with disciples of John the Baptist about fasting,
• healed a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years,
• brought a girl back to life at her funeral,
• cured the blindness of two men,
• exorcised a demon from a man who couldn’t speak, restoring his speech!

Four life-altering miracles right after another! You’d think that’d be enough for Him, but nope–others followed.

music dig shorts: Esperanza by Esperanza Spalding

Esperanza

~Esperanza Spalding

Experanza’s self-titled release was all I hoped it would be and then some! Excellent melodic hooks, superb grooveage, and pleasantly turning progressions–all elements that characterize the complete trio sound of piano, upright bass, and drums atop Esperanza’s smooth, soulful vocals. The astonishing thing about Esperanza is her unique mastery of both the bass and vocals–yup–simultaneously. Her expertise also covers a broad range of musical styles: straight-ahead jazz, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, etc, etc, etc…

A listen to Esperanza from top to bottom keeps musical interest piqued all the way. The R&B-flavored “Ponta De Areia” kicks it all off, where Spalding sports her multilingual talents with Portuguese singing. (Don’t worry, she covers her Spanish base later with a clever, translated rendition of the classic standard “Cuerpo y Alma (Body & Soul)”.)  The crafty, spinning hook of “I Know You Know”–backed by luscious, syncopated piano voicings and enticing rhythmic pulses–keeps the album going strong. As if she didn’t showcase enough talent, 9 of the 12 tracks are Spalding’s own original compositions, including such highlights as “I Adore You”, “Precious”, and “Mela”. Esperanza: An impressive exposition. A substantial musical thesis. A satisfying listen.

Favorite Tracks: Ponta De Areia; I Know You Know; I Adore You; Cuerpo y Alma (Body & Soul)

My Rating: 9/10

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Take a listen to tunes from Esperanza at her Last.fm page!

music dig shorts: Brooke Fraser’s Albertine

Welcome to my new series of music digs, “music dig shorts”, featuring brief reviews and insights on albums I’ve been recently enjoying. Please, post comments freely and often! Most of all, enjoy the music. Explore, and don’t be afraid to tap into something new. You’ll only leave the experience with the aid of added knowledge. (Whether it’s knowledge of what to listen to or what not to listen to is another issue!)

Bon appetit!

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Albertine

~Brooke Fraser

Brooke has a compelling vocal sound that serves to amplify her clear songwriting voice. She runs the gamut throughout Albertine with songs about hope in despair (like “Shadowfeet”) conviction, questions about personal faith, and a challenge to action based on faith (as in the title track, “Albertine”). Ear-catching rhythmic highlights (in “Epilogue”, “Seeds”, “Shadowfeet”, etc.) and satisfying melodies (in “Deciphering Me”) are key elements that work well for the album, making it more than just a stream of good songs sung by a pretty voice.

Despite the great sound and writing, the general feel—as in the musical and vocal modern pop/rock, folk rock style—doesn’t have enough diversity for my liking. (A notable exception is “Hymn”, the final track, characterized by strophic simplicity beneath a beautiful, melodic theme and graceful, string-accompanied piano work.) Although it never seems to really depart from its prominent feel, the album is a strong showing of good, honest songs and sounds.

Favorite Tracks: Shadowfeet; Deciphering Me; Albertine; Seeds; The Thief; Hymn

My Rating: 6.5/10

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To listen to some of Brooke’s songs, check out her Last.fm page!

Repentance

In some of my reading this morning, I ran across this analysis of the act of repentance written by Charlie Peacock:

When I was younger I got the idea that repentance was fessing up to particular sins, renouncing them, asking forgiveness for them, and turning from those particular sins toward right behavior. I even went through a dismal period where I made promises to God to never do the bad things again, or at least to try a lot harder not to do them. Without denigrating my good response of confessing sin or saying no to ungodliness, let me make clear that repentance is much more than simply fessing up to various sins or trying to do better. Since sin is always about having some other agrenda than God’s, repentance is first about turning from my false understanding of reality to God’s true reality. When the eyes of my heart are enlightened, I see reality as it is and remark to myself, Uh-oh, I’m moving in the wrong direction, away from God and his ways.

If pressed to define repentance, I would say: Repentance means giving up my way of living life and being human in exchange for the way God means his people to live life and be human.¹

My prayer is that God would help me (and us as Christians) to view my sin for what it is, and to see it in light of the reality of God’s view. I pray that repentance would mean constantly checking my direction with His, and making the change of direction when He reveals that I’m off course–not just asking for forgiveness and going on along my merry way.

¹Peacock, Charlie. New Way to Be Human. Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press, 2004.

Near –David Santistevan

Near, the new album released by David Santistevan, is a must listen! The flow of this album is one that is satisfying, polished, and at times freeing. As a recording of songs that would work well for worship services, it does include what we have come to identify as traditional elements of that setting: driving anthems with an energetic call to praise, as in “Glory Of Your Name”, alongside more contemplative, “worshipful” ballads, like “Way Of Surrender” and “I Surrender All (Every Thought)”.

Still, this collection offers much more than the same songs you may hear at your church every week. Musically, it examines a broad range of sonic possibilities, putting to use less common instruments (cello, glockenspiel, other percussion) in a blend with guitars, piano, and drum set. Highlights include thoughtful, offset rhythmic figures (drums in “Rising Glory”), tasty effects (bridge of “Willing”), indistinct harmonic textures that settle nicely (guitar & piano lines at the top of “Holding On To You”), and a sensitive, patient use of musical space and atmospheric simplicity (”Forever Near” and the instrumental, “Ascending”). As a whole work, the sounds vary particularly well. Each song has its own musical texture, so that a full listen doesn’t get sickeningly sweet, or depressingly dark.

On a lyrical, thematic level, Santistevan’s songwriting brings to light hope in the midst of darkness, anticipation of God’s coming glory, and prophetic challenges toward a selfless vision for the Christian church. He achieves a clear focus on these matters by constantly calling on biblical context in both speech and melody. In “Rising Glory”, which exudes expectancy of God’s coming, he underscores eagerness for God’s glory by quoting Psalm 85:9, “Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.” Likewise, “Habakkuk’s Prayer” employs the words of the Old Testament prophet to emphasize the value of rejoicing in spite of pain and injustice. “When All Is Lost” reminds us that “we have this great high priest” (Hebrews 4:14) who sympathizes with our weakness when we feel that hope is gone. Such powerful, personally relevant themes ring out clearly from song to song.

As a complete work, the diverse elements work together to communicate as one voice; rhythm, effects, and harmonic progression don’t find themselves tripping up on lyrics, melody, and message. David Santistevan welds together word and music in a unifying cry to a God who is able to conquer the trials of our fallen humanity, who is willing to draw near to give us hope and comfort, and who is worthy to receive our surrendered lives of praise.

Favorite Tracks:

• “Way of Surrender” (Shout-out to Melody Olson on BGVs!)
• “Willing”
• “Holding Onto You”
• “Habakkuk’s Prayer”
• “When All Is Lost”
• “Forever Near”

From the artist… To purchase a download of Near, click on the following link: DigStation Artist: David Santistevan

Derek Webb on Voting

Here’s a link to a letter by one of the artists I respect and admire the most, Derek Webb. He shared a bit of this at a concert I recently attended, but this is a little more detailed description. It’s very interesting, and though it is likely to anger some people, I have to say that it is completely worth the thought and soul-searching.

“How Shall We Then Vote”

P.S. I’ve already voted.