Christ Church Anglican Revisited.

Last year, while making my annual pilgrimage to the Arnold Sports Festival, I discovered a really cool Anglican parish in Columbus, Ohio.  I blogged about it here.

This year, I was able to attend two Holy Communion services at Christ Church Anglican, one on Saturday evening, and the main one on Sunday morning. 

Several friends had asked me, after I posted last year's blog, what a "Contemporary 1928 BCP" service was.  I told them that I didn't know, but I now have the answer to that.

As walked up the sidewalk to the church door on Saturday afternoon, my heart was heavy.  I always try to invite my fellow bodybuilding fans to church, and nobody ever shows any interest.  It makes me sad that so few people in the world seem to truly love church.  I love it so much that it puzzles me how others cannot like it at all.  It seems a burden to them.  Perhaps that is because they are not Anglicans; since I have been Anglican, I love church so much that I would attend even if I ceased to believe in God.  So, anyway, I was a bit sad and lonely as I walked up to the church door.

As I opened the door, however, my heart was lifted straight up into heaven, by the sheer smell of the place.  I love a church that actually smells the way a church is supposed to smell!  Inside, I met Doug, the music minister for the contemporary service.  Then, once in my pew, I met Shaun.  In a breach of Anglican etiquette, Shaun and I chatted before the service started.  I found out that he was from a town in Michigan half an hour's drive from my home.  I also found that we had a mutual friend in Fr. Robert Kerr.

The music used throughout the service was very reminiscent of that used at my local AMiA parish, so was not really my cup of tea.  I commented afterwards that it was a bit like being at a Counting Crows concert.  But, of course, I love the Counting Crows, so it is all good.  Rather than be my usual Music Snob self, I humbled myself and entered into the singing with all my heart, an act of will which God immediately rewarded.  I felt my soul transported again into the presence of God.  The service was a full 1928 BCP Holy Communion liturgy, except that the language was modernized (which thing I abominate, as you can probably guess).  No "thee", "thou", or "thine".  No "vouchsafe".  And "people" instead of "men".  I stumbled badly at several points.  Any time, in fact, that I started to go from memory instead of reading the page.  I found this, frankly, to be very distracting.

I had a good talk with several parishioners and the priest afterwards, and I hope to attend this service again during the 2012 Arnold.

Sunday morning, I arrived at church early, hoping to capture some photographs of the building beyond what I'd taken last year.  Alas, I had left my camera battery in the charger back in my room.  So, no new pictures this year.

The 10:00 am was fairly well attended, considering that there had been an unexpected overnight snow in Columbus.  For the number of parishioners, and the size of the building, the singing was very strong, filling the worship space nicely.  Unfortunately, my own singing was not very good, as I was suffering the last phase of a head cold.  The hymns we sung were interesting.  All were from the Hymnal 1940, but I was not very familiar with most of them.  It made a nice change from singing the familiar ones over and over again.  There was also a very fine Anthem from the choir.

I always give "extra credit" to any parish at which the Passing of the Peace is omitted, and Christ Church got the full amount of the extra credit.

But the one segment of the service which touched me the most was a simple reading of two Collects from very near the back of the 1928 BCP.  They occur on pages 596 and 597, if memory serves.  They were said by the priest just after the Nicene Creed and just before the Sermon Hymn.  They were these:

For Joy in God's Creation.

O HEAVENLY Father, who hast filled the world with beauty; Open, we beseech thee, our eyes to behold thy gracious hand in all thy works; that rejoicing in thy whole creation, we may learn to serve thee with gladness; for the sake of him by whom all things were made, thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Those We Love.

ALMIGHTY God, we entrust all who are dear to us to thy never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come; knowing that thou art doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Each of these Collects was like a bullet of love straight through my heart.  Each spoke with incredible precision to a need I had at the moment.  It reminded me once again of the amazing wisdom that is contained in the Book of Common Prayer!  It also reaffirmed my long-standing belief that formal, structured liturgy is no impediment whatever to the Spirit of God.  The Holy Ghost found His target (my heart) with these two arrows!  The first Collect I needed to hear because I have been in a rut (which as an artist occasionally befalls me) of finding beauty only in one certain person I am painting, and not being able to see the beauty in "all thy works".  This prayer is one I've often used to help break out of such an aesthetic bondage.

The second prayer is one that I hardly remember having seen or prayed before, but again it was exactly what my heart needed.  For I have been fretting many months over some friends who are in a hard situation.  I have come to the end of my ability to help them, and have had to yield them over to God's care.  This has been very difficult for me.  But this Collect assures me that God is doing better things for them than I can even think of!  How great is that?

Oh, I almost forgot my other favourite part:  the General Confession.  As Prayer Book Anglicans, we often rush through the liturgy, as if speed were a prime virtue in worship.  Sunday was the slowest I have ever heard a congregation read through the General Confession (same with the Prayer of Thanksgiving on page 83)!  Normally, we cut through the Confession so quickly that phrases like "the burden of them is intolerable" might as well be "two eggs, over easy".  But by slowing down the cadence perhaps 30 to 40 percent, Christ Church Anglican gave me the blessing of feeling, evaluating, embracing, ratifying, and embodying every word and phrase in the Confession.  I cannot tell you how wonderful this felt to me.  I earnestly entreat any Anglican clergyman reading this blog entry to take this challenge:  Slow down the General Confession!  Read it so that it feels almost too slow.  Pause at every punctuation mark.  I have never seen this issue discussed, but it made a night-and-day difference to my worship that morning.

Just as last year, the service was concluded with a beautiful Organ Postlude, which made me wish my wife could have attended.  God willing, she will be there with me next March!

Book of Memory

By request, I am posting the demo video of my song Book of Memory. At first, it didn't upload to YouTube correctly, and then I though perhaps the demo was too rough to post. But it captures basically what I want to do with the tune, as well as some of the passion that went into writing it. It is always interesting to have as an artifact a recording of any song on the same day you wrote it.

Going and Staying

I think it is common for us to wish the bad things away while somehow not losing the good. We want forgetfulness on the one hand, and eternal rememberance on the other. I recently wrote this song, which expressed the desire for remembrance:

Book of Memory (P. Erlandson, 2011)

Frozen moments, sparks were flashing,
Smiles that pierced me to the core.
But I'm nothing to you now, and
Never shall be any more.

All you taught me is forgotten,
All I taught you, gone the same.
All that's left is endless sorrow,
Every time I hear your name.

But in God's own book of memory,
Everything we vowed, still true.
Nothing can erase our chapter;
God remembers I loved you.

All our days of secret sharing,
All our times of joyous prayer.
All our highest hopes and fancies,
Faithfully recorded there.

Each is captured, none forgotten,
Like a jewel of great price.
Every promise, kept unbroken,
Every act of sacrifice.

There in God's own book of memory,
Still we live beyond the pain.
All our kindnesses remembered,
All our love was not in vain.

But perhaps that is not realistic. Perhaps a more possible view is that express by Thomas Hardy in his poem Going and Staying, in which the blind arm of Time brushes away both pleasant and unpleasant memories in an indescriminate fashion:

Going and Staying

The moving sun-shapes on the spray,
The sparkles where the brook was flowing,
Pink faces, plightings, moonlit May,
These were the things we wished would stay;
But they were going.

Seasons of blankness as of snow,
The silent bleed of a world decaying,
The moan of multitudes in woe,
These were the things we wished would go;
But they were staying.

Then we looked closelier at Time,
And saw his ghostly arms revolving
To sweep off woeful things with prime,
Things sinister with things sublime
Alike dissolving.

Beauty Matters

No matter how many people (Christians, mostly) tell me that beauty does not matter, I am unable and unwilling to believe this. Their reasoning is that it does not matter to God and therefore it should not matter to the Christian.

That is so bizarre and unthinkable to me. For God to have created all the manifold kinds of beauty He created, and then for that to be to Him either (A) of no consequence whatever; or (B) actually a negative thing, since beauty is such a temptation to idolatry ... is a thought that I hate with my entire being.

I was talking once to Doug Pinnick (of King's X fame) and he was telling me and some other people about a Christian speed metal band that he had heard in Europe. He talked to the band's lead guitarist, who told him that all their technical proficiency, all their virtuosity, all the beauty of their music, was worth absolutely nothing. It was only a means to get their metaphorical foot in the door to preach the Gospel. The beauty of it meant nothing at all. Doug related to us how shocked he was to hear the guy say this; he was in stunned disbelief at what he heard. I agree with Doug.

Beauty is valuable. It means something.

Audioproject2 - Musical Duo from Czech Republic!

Every so often, you strike gold on YouTube.  This is one of those times.  Several weeks back I stumbled on a musical duo (husband and wife) from the Czech Republic, who call themselves Audioproject2.  Their names are Adriana and Pavel.  I love their combination of blues and gospel standards.  They graciously agreed to be interviewed for my blog.



HRA:  It is somewhat unusual to hear the same artists singing blues and gospel. I really like that. You seem to express both kinds of music equally well. Is that a difficult balance to make?

Pavel: Actually,I don't find it difficult. At least not as I personally feel it.  Blues is about everyday life. It reflects ordinary week-days.  Good times-bad times, troubles, love and hate... Gospel - it is Sunday... It's a message. It's a message that you have found something bigger in this world below and it describes the way that led to this finding.  But there are still days of the week. These genres are as close as possible for me. Both of them have the same roots - the heart.

(Every good piece in so-called modern music is influenced by blues or gospel ..)

Adriana: Yes, I agree. I never devided music which I like to sing into categories.  For me the most important thing is the feeling.I believe there's not a bad music style, but just poor songs.  But if I should classify it - blues and gospel are my favourites.



HRA:  Can you name some of your musical influences (both vocal and guitar)?

Adriana:  My musical influences, they were quite a few. For me definately early music of Ike & Tina, she was my idol and I learned almost all her R'n'B songs. Then Aretha Franklin, Mahalia Jackson and Elvis Presley. I love strong and impressive voices. And I must not forget about Johny Cash.

Pavel:  There are many... Paul Anka's Diana was my very first song. I played my guitar and sang it with Czech lyrics. And then, there was a very special genre, we call it "folk" in the Czech Republic.  It's a mixture of acoustic music across old time songs, country, bluegrass and Dylan-like singer-songwriters.  "Spiritual Kvintet (Quintet)" band, offered a bit more than this. They started to play in the 60ies,  i.e. golden age of gospel. Their music was for us at that time a window out of this part of the world, behind the cold war's wall :-). They played and sing about freedom and faith (We shall overcome).

Then SIMON & GARFUNKEL!

And sure, I must mention big rock guitar legends as Hendrix, Clapton, Page and many others during my "Hard and Heavy" :-) years. But most of all DAVID GILMOUR from Pink Floyd was my hero.  Also I admire Mr. Guitar - Chet Atkins, Django Rheinhardt and many others.

I have to say I've found a lot of fantastic unknown and very talented artists on YouTube recently..



HRA:  How long has each of you been doing music? How long together?

Adriana:  My mom says I began to sing long before I could talk fluently :-).  Music was the main reason why I began to learn English....Singing has always been my passion!

But till now – just a hobby, because at first I studied law at The Charles' University and then worked here in Prague. As a child I was singing in a choir, then in several bands, but we performed not so often.

Now we'd like to form a band and play live much more often!

Pavel:  I got my first guitar when I was 10. On Christmas day. I played Diana till the New Year's Eve... :-) Later I played with a rock band, before I met Adriana. We did a lot of gigs in music clubs all around the country. We played a mixture of reggae, hard rock and rap (old school). The band broke up and I was looking for a singer. And I've found her!

But... we founded another sort of a band – marriage :-)) .


HRA:  Do you play live for people at coffeehouses or other music venues? If so, how do you like live performance?

Pavel:  Last spring we decided to start with music again. We are practising and preparing our own songs.  In the meantime, we play some jazz, gospel, and blues standards we both like.  We are glad to share them on YouTube with the others. Hopefully we'll be performing live soon...

Adriana:  Not much experience so far, but I'm looking forward to it!


HRA:  Do you have any idea of putting a larger band together, perhaps with electric guitar and drums?

Adriana / Pavel:  Yes, we are in touch with other musicians and working on it. But also we like acoustic playing especially for minor genres of music.  It's something like a test, if you are good enough to play and sing live, because every little mistake is heard pretty loud!

But of course the more instruments the richer sound, so we are putting a couple of good musicians with the same musical taste together (which is not so easy,for the majority of people here prefer playing rock and folk).


HRA:  Anything else you would like to tell the readers about you or your music?

Pavel:  We really much appreciate your interest in our music!

Adriana:  I would like to thank the readers and listeners for their time, and wish them all the best! If you find among our songs some that you like we'll be very pleased.  And the biggest THANK belongs especially TO YOU PAUL for this great offer!

Thank you so much.  Adriana Pavel AudioProject2

Interview with Artist Michelle Geromel

I first found out about the art of Michelle Geromel through a mutual friend on Facebook. She has a website, and writes a blog called Love & Passion. She also has an Etsy store, where you can purchase her work.

Hi Michelle. How long have you been painting?

Hi Paul. I’ve been painting for about 16 years. Before that I worked mostly in colored pencil and pastel.

Did you receive formal training for painting. If so, can you describe it for us?

No I did not. I have taken classes from instructors such as Diane Youngblood and Robert Burridge. But I never went to art school or took classes in college.


You seem to have a few distinct styles. What sort of thing is currently your favorite to paint?

Right now it’s a toss up between the abstract landscapes which I paint with my fingers and my figurative paintings.

Can you say a few words about the materials and brushes you like to use?

From a brush perspective I like to use filberts.

I have three favorite types of acrylic paint. I use a lot of Nova Paints (a small company out of LA). Nova paints are not as thick but keep their color well and are very inexpensive. Plus they have some fun colors to mix with or just experiment with like steel flecked or gold. I also love Golden and Holbein. Holbein has the best color pigments - but their colors are different than standard palette colors - so I mix it up.


Do you paint from life, or from photographic references?

Generally I paint from photos. That way I can setup the light the way I like and also from a practical perspective - I like to paint into the night. I don’t want to have to call a model at 10pm and ask them to sit for me for a few hours.


Do you derive more joy from the process of painting, or from the product?

That’s a really good question Paul. I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that.

Probably the process. If I could paint in my studio all day long, every day I’d be a very happy girl. BUT - painting lots of paintings means you need to put them somewhere. And I do get a great amount of bliss from someone’s happy smiles, or other indications of joy when they see my work/ purchase my work. So the product can derive a great deal of pleasure as well.


Can you tell us a story about someone you have met through an art connection?

I met one of my best friends. She was sitting across from me at Sawdust Winter Festival in Laguna Beach. And she came over and introduced herself. We became inseparable after that. Some of it was because of the art - having a friend who is an artist can be very comforting. All of a sudden all the odd ways you look at the world aren’t so odd, when someone else see them too. And some of the connection was because we were both coming out of relationships at the time and needed a friend who understood that pain. We are very supportive of each other’s art and I see her every week for one thing or another.

It’s funny - and I don’t think I ever told her this. Years earlier I walked by her booth at that festival and I remembered her after that. Out of all the artists - she was the only one who’s art and person I remembered that visit to the festival. And now we are good friends.


Do you find that you need the validation of others (buyers, galleries, critics)? Or do you already know in your heart that a painting is good?

Validation is a double edged sword. If you believe other people’s press about you - then when it’s bad, do you believe that as well? I really try to not need outside validation because that is giving my power away.

Am I hurt if someone criticizes my art? Sometimes yes. But when I step back I realize in most cases that person was threatened by something they felt from my art and/or they are a frustrated artist and seeing someone who is successfully putting paint to canvas bothers them.

I think there are people in my life in whom their opinion matters. A few of my best friends - I do ask their feedback, sometimes about a painting (ie. Is it done? - they always say yes way before I declare it done) and sometimes about a new series. But I have learned even here, a lot of times people I love don’t necessarily see the vision until it’s complete. How can they? It’s not their vision to begin with.

I have also discovered something about my art - and that is- it’s connecting. Some type of art may not be for everyone - but I know it’s good. And I can tell when it’s crap. And generally, even things I think are crap, other people think are good. So I’ve stopped looking outside for that validation and just paint.


If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring painter, what would it be?

Just paint. People will try to mold you into what they think you should do - what subjects you should paint, what your style should be, what color palette you should use. Don’t listen to any of it. Just do what you do - and listen to your intuition and eventually you will find your own voice, your own style.
When you create a painting, do you consciously have the viewer in mind, trying to create a certain set of feelings for that person? Or do you paint for yourself (by which I mean, follow your own vision) and hope that it also resonates with others?

A little bit of both. I started doing my male torsos because people kept asking for them. But I couldn’t start them until I was ready to paint them - with powerful intention. Meaning on the back of every piece I place an emotion, an objective for that piece. And until I could comfortably do that I didn’t paint men. And now I think these are some of my best pieces. However, at the same time, I was told a while ago, by a great expert in art, that I knew nothing about nudes because mine were not lying down. That just doesn’t work for me. It’s not my vision - it’s not why I paint them. I’m inspired by the ancient roman and greek statutes. So while I do listen to what people want, and what resonates with them - it also needs to resonate with me first.

That's hilarious about the "not lying down" comment. Some people want to inhabit such tiny boxes.

What one aspect of your life in art has brought you the greatest joy?

Great question. Growing up and then working in corporate America, there always seemed to be a “what will people think” question running through my mind. I don’t mean about art - I mean about everything. The color of the rug in the living room, what I was wearing, what decorations I put outside my home etc. And I’ve noticed this internal dialogue in a lot of other people as well.

The awesome thing about being an artist is I’ve learned to turn that off. Because for me there is no way I could paint anything I now paint if I was worried about what people might say. No one got the torso paintings when I first started them. No one got why I would paint a giraffe - but now they love them. This worrying about what other people think is stifling.

And I don’t have that anymore. And occasionally if I forget, friends will remind me that I’m an artist, I can do whatever. So I do. I wear what I want. I decorate my house as I like. I even dyed my hair with pink highlights for a while, because I could. Embracing being an artist has been the best. Because it has been freeing.

Thanks, Michelle. Awesome interview!

Vinsetta Garage Closes - A Sad Moment

Here is a story on the closing of Vinsetta Garage, which is only a few miles from my house.

It has been in business 91 years.  That's right - there were still brand new Model T's being built when this garage opened.  So sad!