Olympia New World Waking, Day One.

Two days.

That’s how much time we, a group of students and local celebrities had to cast, rehearse, stage and perform New World Waking. Twice.

We had Thursday from 1 to 5. And then possibly 1 to 5 on Friday. But, essentially, we had the one day.

I stayed with Gabi and Alec Clayton, as usual. They have four cats that circled me suspiciously the whole time I was there. Finally, they let me feed them fish flakes, AKA kitty crack. So, I got a few chin scratches and ear tickling.

Wednesday night, I was tired and went right to bed.

Thursday morning, my stomach was hurting. I hit the bathroom a few times, but it wasn't helping. It wasn't pain exactly. But it had a very familiar feel. (kidney stones again). No. I refused to believe it. I even tried using my will to make it go away.

I also started drinking a lot of water.

Our set was the black box theatre inside the Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts on the campus of the South Puget Sound Community College, nestled in the richly forested, rolling hillsides surrounding the small, beautiful port city of Olympia, Washington.

I had a mandate from Don Welch the professor: Show the students how you put on a show.

Well, the only way I know how to learn anything is to just do it.

“We can do New World Waking," I announced. "I’ll come in the day before, cast the solos, rehearse it and we’ll do it in two days.”

I spent the whole plane trip to Olympia wondering what I had talked myself into, and where I would even start.

I didn’t really have a specific plan, but I thought the best way to handle this was to simply treat them as if they were a professional cast and that we were there to put on a show. I'd use the script and scores from the New York production. 

I also felt confident because I had a safety net. I, myself, could sing any song that we couldn’t find a soloist for. (Don had pre-chosen the soloists from his advanced class, and they had those solos in advance). So, no matter how much or how little the group learned, the show could still go on!

At least, that was the theory.

Everyone was assembled in the block box theater at South Puget Sound Community College. Before I even said a word, I hit a G on the piano and started singing, “Time to come out...” and then I gestured to the students to repeat it.



They did. A bit tepidly at first; caught everyone off-guard. So, I repeated it, “TIME TO COME OUT!” And they responded a bit louder, looking confused, but definitely joining in. Since the background vocals are simple, just call and response, we finished it in just a few minutes. So, I proudly looked at everyone and said, “There! Now we’ve already learned out first number.”



The response to that was still very tepid and their attention seemed a bit off. Some were texting. Others were looking away, bored. I became a bit annoyed and immediately told everyone to put their phones away.



We got through a few more songs, but I still didn’t feel like most were really present.


So, assuming everyone one here was wanting to get into theater, I gave them a rather -- shall we say -- passionate speech about how much theater means to me, how it saved my life, how I've seen it save the lives of others, and that it's a calling and not an idle hobby.


I said, "Right now, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of actors in New York living in roach-infested closets, working two jobs to pay for acting classes and dance classes, and going to auditions. If you think you can compete with their dedication by texting during a class or not paying attention, you are out of your minds. That's your competition: People who really care. So, anyone who doesn't want to be here, then please leave. Now. I don't want you." (I might have used stronger language than that).



Then, it dawned on me that maybe there was something wrong because I knew I wasn't really connecting with everyone.



So, I said, “Does anyone know why I’m here?”



There were five sitting in the front row on the left with printed-out music on their laps. They all nodded enthusiastically. 

But the larger group, about 15 or so, sitting higher up on the right hand side looked at me blankly and then shook their heads.



“So, you don't know why I'm here or what we're trying to do?”

"No."

Suddenly, I felt my back starting to throb. Yep, that kidney stone was definitely there. And it was going to be a problem. I leaned over for a moment to gather my thoughts.


"Okay," I said. "Here's the deal. You're in the cast of a new musical and we open tomorrow night."

(To be continued).

Olympia Story Coming Soon.

The Olympia weekend was an amazing experience, one I'm only now starting to appreciate. So, I want to take some time to digest it. Also, I do have some video. But I have to give it to the "kids" in the show, at least one of whom was my age. They worked their hearts out and they delivered complex, emotional performances. And to have done it all in two days just astounds me.

So I thank them with all my heart.

Olympian Volcano!

Great article by Molly Gilmore in the Weekly Volcano about my return visit here to Olympia.

I arrived yesterday after a long day of travel and basically slept the whole day. The time zone difference is difficult enough, but I had to get up at 4am to get the bus to the airport.

Thankfully, the plane was on time and though I was wedged into a very full aircraft, right in front of a crying baby, I was happily immersed in a new book called "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World." (We are given this impression that the Western world was so much  more civilized than the east, but he actually implemented freedom of religion, meritocracy and open trade while the western world was still bowing down to kings and living in filth).

Ah, but then, we always the "the other guy" is so much less civilized than we are.

Buy tickets here.

Olympian Heights!

It takes just as much effort and energy to make a small event as it does to make a big event. So, you might as well make a big event. And yes, I'm talking about Olympia.

The fact that it's where the concept of New World Waking was born. The fact that the professor wants the students to have the full theatrical experience of putting on a show, including auditions for solos, etc.

The fact that we have two days to make it work.

The fact that it's in a place called Olympia.

(You go to Olympian heights in Olympia!)

The fact that everyone wants to get involved and make it great, this project evolved from the original "We should get Steve here to sing" Steve concert to full scale community event, raising money for PFLAG-Olympia,  growing and changing before my very eyes, with a cast of thousands!

I can't just show up and do a couple of numbers. We have to put on a show! So, I have been scrambling through all my folders looking for sheet music, and adding it to scripts, mp3s,etc. into a virtual folder -- thank you, google docs -- and everyone participating in the show can access it.
(
I'm so glad I spent all last year putting together newer arrangements for different vocal ranges. Given the fact that the first incarnation was a male chorus, most of the arrangements I had before were for male voices.)

The structure of the piece is simple. Songs connected by relevant quotes, or background material setting the context for the next song.

How the songs are sung, what the stage looks like, what costumes should or shouldn't be worn, what choreography should or shouldn't be added, lights, multi-media -- all of that is up for grabs. We can do as little or as much as the material will support. Key being just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD.

And maybe some enterprising young filmmaker will tape it all and make a movie. Any volunteers? Or maybe have everyone in the room shoot footage at different times. Crowdsource it and edit that together.

It'll be terrifying that first day. I remember how the songwriter workshops used to terrify me. Creating in front of others!

So, the next question is, when they ask me to write a press release, what exactly do I say? How do I describe, in advance, what I don't know is going to happen?

And how do I let the students know that from this point on, there are no rules?

New World Waking this Sunday in Miami!

INSIGNIA, the select group of singers from the Miami Gay Men's Chorus will be performing New World Waking this Sunday, April 10th, at St. Stephens Episcopal Church. See the story in Steve Rothhaus' column in the Miami Herald. Go get tickets now!

Rehearsing New World Waking in Miami

As we walked down the hallways of the beautiful Coral Gables Congregational Church, Jimmy and I heard the choral strains of "Gabi's Song" coming from a room at the end of the hall and we both got chills. He said, "I hear your music."

It's still startling to me to hear someone I don't know playing and singing my songs. It's almost like seeing someone using my toothbrush. The songs are so personal and the notes so very, well, my OWN that it's almost embarrassing, like they're going through my underwear drawers.

But then, when I feel my eyes starting to well up, all of that fades away and I'm filled with intense joy. I have a feeling my face was beaming.

INSIGNIA is a select group of singers put together by the Anthony Cabrera based on their skill level, but also, he said, on their sound -- their ability to blend. And wow, blend they did! Even at this early stage of their rehearsal period, their sound was breathtaking.

I told them a few stories about the piece, but mostly I just listened and answered questions here and there. They were interested in how it came together, why I chose the songs I did, and what kinds of responses I've gotten in the past. But, really, I was just there to listen.

Hunky, handsome Anthony Cabrera, artistic director and conductor.

The performance will be at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Coconut Grove on April 10th at 4pm.

He's Coming Back.

Avril is a woman I met back in Los Angeles while volunteering down at Kulak's Woodshed. I think her accent is Australian? Or maybe she's British? I keep forgetting. Anyway, Marc Platt, who runs the workshop, told us all to write a song -- we had an hour -- featuring the word or the concept of "joy."

I think our group consisted of four women that night -- and myself as a kind of facilitator. 

We were hemming and hawing, trying to come up with an idea. Finally, Avril stood up, stone-still as was her way, and simply said, tearlessly, soberly, "I don't much joy right now. I sent my kid back to Iraq this morning."

That stopped the conversation.

Silently, I wrote down, "I sent my kid back to Iraq this morning." 

It was an electrifying moment, because, when you're suddenly very sad or angry or whatever, your first reaction is to sit down and take a break so that you can start breathing again.

She stood there, staring off. So, I just started asking her questions. I think I said, "Okay, now that you've said that, what's the next thing that comes to your mind?"

She said, without taking a beat, "That now I have to clean up all his mess."

I think we all laughed out loud. Avril smiled, but she didn't move. I wrote down what she said.

And over the next half hour or so, I just kept asking questions and writing down, as word for word as possible, what she said. Then, I went home that weekend, found that sheet of paper, and converted it into music and lyrics, using her words and phrases. The video clip below is from our benefit concert earlier this year:

As we cruise through the holidays, we see lots of soldiers on the TV saying hi to their family. I'm totally a sucker for it, because they are real people, and there really is a war going on.

But, just like when I was writing about AIDS, it's not only the patient who suffers through the war of the disease. It's the caregivers, the family members, the workmates, best friends, shopping pals, hunting pals, movie pals, who all feel the emptiness of that person they love not being present, we're all in it together.

Except we're not. We, at home, are not getting shot at.

Because that's the part we don't want to look at.

And because the war is so amorphous --who's the enemy again? can it ever be over? will it ever be over? what does it mean if we "win?" who will we have defeated? a people? an ideology? a culture? a religion? -- it becomes very sad and unsettling for everyone, whether they have family members in the service or not.

My Thanksgiving Prayer.

This next Sunday morning, Jake Wesley Stewart and I are going to perform a duet of "My Thanksgiving Prayer" at Christchurch Episcopal in Brooklyn. I was going to post a video, and then I found a blog called sowhatfaith.com that did it for me:

Over the last several days I have read many blogs and news articles, searched Scripture,  talked with several people and participated in and interfaith worship service all in an effort to better grasp both Thanksgiving and thankfulness.  For some reason, this Thanksgiving what resonates deeply with me are the lyrics to a song: “My Thanksgiving Prayer.”  I encourage you to take some time to read them, then to hear them sung, and finally to offer them as a prayer.

In this time of my thanksgiving as my song begins to rise

Listen to the prayer within me - Look into my grateful eyes

May I humbly stand before you, as I reach out with my hand

May the music bring a healing to this cold and troubled land

In this time of my thanksgiving — ohhh — In this time of my thanksgiving

God of love who made apostles out of every clan and race

In this time and in this valley – You are there in every face

As I face the burnished offerings to the gods of power and fear

Make of me a living offering – Let me be your servant here

In this time of my thanksgiving — ohhh — In this time of my thanksgiving

Give us grace to face the struggle which the world yet holds in store

Walk beside us ever loving – Grant us peace forevermore

In this time grant us peace — ohhh — In this time grant us peace

Ohhh — In this time – peace

So What?

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for what has been, for what is, and for what can be.  Take time today to reflect on blessings from past, recognize those happening in the present, and imagining those yet to come.  As you look ahead to the place God is guiding, remember and live into these words: “Make of me a living offering – Let me be your servant here.”

About the Song

“My Thanksgiving Prayer” is found in Part 3 of New World Waking: A Musical Insurrection for Peace.  You can view and download a free copy of the sheet music here.

The lyrics were written by Rev. Peter J. Carman who serves as pastor of The Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  The music was composed by Steve Schalchlin who is best known for writing the music and lyrics to two critically-acclaimed, award-winning off-Broadway pop gospel musicals The Last Session and The Big Voice: God or Merman?  The YouTube video clip is of a rehearsal by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and the Community Women’s Orchestra directed by Dr. Kathleen McGuire.

Don't forget that you can still get the full recording of the entire New World Waking at the website of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus.

The Wars, The Wars.

I have now spent this entire week, trapped on the couch, keeping my arm in ice. I didn't know until two days ago, though, that the problem was in my shoulder, not my wrist (because the pain seemed to be more focused on the lower arm and wrist area -- I thought the shoulder pain was coming from "favoring" my arm.

I'm still in pain, so I can't do much, include type, but I thought I'd just put down a few thoughts.

I probably shouldn't have gone to Columbus and done those two shows, but at the time, after I fell, mere steps away from my front door on a Sunday morning at 5am, all I could think of was, "I gotta get to the plane!" What can I say?  I'm dense.

Anyway, since I couldn't use my right hand much -- still can't -- it has given me a chance to slow down and just think, even as I have all the media I can eat.

I saw on the news the other night a story about making some kids spend a week, or something, away from all electronic devices -- and judging how "addicted" to the net they are.

It all sounds so fantastically sci fi to my ears. And yet, how quickly I take for granted things that, a generation ago, weren't even thought up yet.

But how ironic it is that the more we think up in The Cloud, the more unreal "reality" starts to seem. The two "wars" they keep telling us "we're" fighting rage on like an intermittent mini-series on USA Network. Our lives are so divorced from that reality, we don't even want to look at it.

(And, now, the Wikileaks Papers, which the major news organizations have been hoarding, so that they can analyze it before the government spin doctors go to work? have come out. Al Jazeera broke it 30 minutes too soon.)

Friends of mine on the Christian Right have been insisting, to me, that we are in a war with Islam itself, and that lefties are all in denial about it. Radical Islamists and radical Jews agree with them. It's nice to know they all agree about something other than gay people are going to hell. But, I kid my Abrahamic faith brothers and sisters!*

There was this song by the Monkees, long ago. Peter Tork sang it. The King of Zor / Called for a war.

I have several friends in the armed services who tell me they almost wince when someone says "thank you for your service" but ignore how this country treats its veterans, and how the wars are treated as this remote thing "the government" is doing. As interesting as watching someone else play a video game. Thus, without substance.

It's why I added the song called "He's Coming Back" to New World Waking with a shared lyric credit with my friend, Avril, who volunteers at Kulak's Woodshed. She sent her son back to Iraq and I wrote the song surreptitiously over the weekend, by writing down what she said as she told the story at a Wednesday song writing workshop.

That's the vocal arrangement I was working on all week. 

This is the video where I first performed the song for Avril, that following Monday.

It makes me even more committed to New World Waking, The Last Session and The Big Voice. All three pieces, written from the heart with no original purpose other than to tell a story and to entertain, foster an environment of dialogue and communication. 


Just last week, I heard from a theater in Canada that wants to use The Big Voice as their way of engaging with the conservative people in their area.


That's how all wars end. With a negotiation around a table. And that's how I'll end this rambling post. With a trip to get another ice pack out of the freezer.

*There is an exhibition, now, in New York, of early texts from the "Abrahamic faiths."

New Images of Jim Brochu as Zero Mostel.

Jim opened "Zero Hour" down at the Maltz Jupiter Theater last night and posted these fabulous new photos. This is my favorite. It looks like a movie still. We have been approached by people who think Zero Hour would make a good movie. 

"In the show, thanks in part to a crafty makeup job,
 Brochu bears an uncanny resemblance to the burly, larger-than-life Mostel. " Hap Erstein.

He wears, for the record, almost no make-up. He uses a pencil and draws "Hirschfeld lines" on his eyebrows after plastering his hair down to look like a combover. I wonder how many make-up artists have used Al Hirschfeld's caricatures as a basis for celebrity make-up? At MGM, I'm told the iconic actresses would come to a photo shoot with zero make-up, and that artists add that later, to the photograph.

Zero Mostel (Jim Brochu) being grilled in front of the House committee. "All of Zero’s testimony in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee is online, a lot of his letters between himself and ( his wife ) Kate, so many articles, interviews...” from PB ArtsPaper.

Jim did a great job of condensing the testimony. It's funny and scary all at the same time, as you realize how easy it is to go from having an opinion, to being blacklisted and an object of suspicion and fear. Zero admits he was a Marxist, but it was because he felt, during the 30s, as did many, that only the commies were opposing the Nazis. Right or wrong, it's what he believed, and he also liked how Franklin Roosevelt kept everyone working when no one could get a job.

"The government gave me paint, and a brush."

People like Mostel were being accused of being foreign agents with an intent to overthrow the government through the use of violence. Absurd. And they were forced to betray their friends who might also have those same political beliefs, or never work again.

Zero took it even more personally. "Commie equaled liberal, and liberal equaled Jew."

His best friend Philip Loeb committed suicide after he was blacklisted.

He would also butter his arm in a public restaurant and ask for more butter, according to Piper Laurie, who also knew him in those days. He was absurd, loud and unpredictable.

I thought about Zero and how wonderful he'd be in this play that just opened on Broadway, a birthday gift from Charlotte Rae, "La Bete," where a very serious playwright character is confronted by an inebriated, besotted-with-himself fool of a playwright. (Mark Rylance in the performance of a lifetime, with David Hyde Pierce, bravely finding a thousands ways to show withering contempt, and who we met afterwards -- nicest person on the planet).

Charlotte Rae visiting David Hyde Pierce backstage after "La Bete."
I was so excited, I forgot to ask for one with myself.

I also reminded David that each time we've gotten major awards in Los Angeles, it's he who ends up either announcing it or giving it to us. (We don't really know each other.)

But the discussion of what's "art" and what's just commercial crap has been going on since the dawn of time. Jim and I, of course, embrace both in TLS, TBV and Zero Hour. We like plays that mean something and that might have an idea or an opinion or a point of view hovering in the background, but we also love a good belly laugh and a little baggy pants.

Oh, and we're not afraid of drawing out a tear or two, either.

Speaking of which, we now have a new production of The Last Session scheduled for the Fall in Norwich, Connecticut, and The Big Voice, maybe even with Jim and myself, is coming to a small theater in Canada next summer, if we can coordinate schedules. And New World Waking is coming to Miami.

I'm more or less staying home, keeping ice on my shoulder. (Frozen Chinese vegetables are almost as good as frozen peas, btw.)

Video: New World Waking in June 2010, NYC.

New World Waking!'s New York debut was on a bare "stage" in a tiny little place on lower West Side, Manhattan. The singers were all rehearsed individually, and then brought together on the day of the show to sing and hear the entire piece for the first time in its newest configuration.

This is not professional video, so the quality isn't great, but it is clear. And the performers were beyond spectacular as we sang for ourselves as much as we did for our small, but enormously supportive, audience.

Everyone, afterwards, told me they wanted to be in my "troupe." I didn't know I had a troupe, but I guess I do now, and we keep adding to the troupe every single day! I haven't spoken yet about last Wednesday's The Last Session, but I will. Lots of things are happening there.

Meanwhile, if you're a singer, sing my songs! Either download the sheet music or follow along on these videos below, or both. Then, if you see me at my usual Sunday night hangout, Mark Janas' Salon, I'll play for you! Or, better, Mark will play for you.

Community Chorus.

Last night, just as an experiment, I went down to the Salon, now housed at Etcetera Etcetera, overlooking 44th St. -- weird, I didn't bring my camera. Must remember these things, but I was focused on making music and listening to other singers and songwriters. But I wanted to see what kind of sound we could make, everyone in the room.

The thing that's kind of charming about the Salon is that, just like Kulak's Woodshed in L.A., it's an open mic, so you get all sizes, shapes and ages, so some of the acts can be a bit questionable in quality. But Mark also surrounds himself with some of the best singers just bubbling under on the cabaret scene.

He's a great musician who can literally play anything. Most of them have had at least some basic music training or they've done shows.

First, I sang Gabi's Song and mentioned how we had created this "instant chorus" last Sunday night, where all the principle singers met for the first time, literally discovering the piece along with the audience. The sound was so glorious. Just wait. I have video for you.

But the sound was so glorious, I realized it was possible. But that's not enough. The piece has to be functional for full community singing, i.e. the audience singing along and becoming part of the piece. And not just as an echo and response shout, but as a legitimately musical part of the equation.

So, after a quick break -- where I saw Stephen Bienskie hanging out, by the way. He looks fantastic and is still very much on the scene, going to auditions, etc. -- I was called back, and I chose the song "Lazarus Come Out" because that text, by Peter Carman, is a thank you to caregivers of people with AIDS (though the lyrics don't do that; they simply tell the story of someone grateful to be alive).

I began by just saying, "There is a part for you to sing. Mark, why don't you lead us?"

And by the time we got to the final "Lazarus Come Out," we sounded like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

As I exited the stage, he said, "You know, when Steve first began talking about this, he mentioned he wanted it to be a community chorus type piece, and we've proved tonight that it can be done. I heard all of you finding the harmonies on your own. Wonderful."

And it was.

And now a small community chorus out in California have asked me for "William's Song." I said, yes, of course. (Secret to life: say yes).

I'm hatching a plan for New World Waking based on these little experiments. Watch this space. Fun up ahead!

Musical Insurrection!

Gabi's Song rehearsal. Tonight is New World Waking!

We have been working for two weeks, rehearsing and pulling together this piece. I've even written a little "script" for it, consisting of quotes from famous people. And tonight, we put it on its feet and see if it works! I'm really, really excited.

Meanwhile, though the sound isn't the greatest, here is "Gabi's Song," as sung by Shannon Corey in rehearsal a few days ago. I love her rendition. It'll be the first time I've heard the song sung by a female. And she totally nails it. Her vocal skills and interpretation are impeccable.

NWW Update: Gabi's Song.

There will be a big announcement this week regarding a theater and performance festival here in New York and we're going to throw together what I'm calling an "open source" performance of New World Waking.

To that end, I've been collecting and revising all the sheet music, uploading it to Google Docs, making it public, and then sharing it with whoever, that means you, reader, wants to join us that night.

The reason I've been revising them is that most of them are in male chorus arrangements, which makes sense since the first time I scored most of them was in tandem with Kathleen McGuire for the SF Gay Men's Chorus.

However, I've now started making newer, more stripped down arrangements. I finished the first one last night for Gabi's Song. You can get it here. I've included the sketch of an arrangement on the melody line, but with the lyrics on top. I also corrected the piano. It's not exactly how I play it, but it's close.

I've also updated the NWW website, including the graphics and "The Making Of" page.

May 8 is the anniversary of Bill Clayton's death.

Bill Clayton's tragic death led to his mother becoming an advocate for safe schools and advocacy for families who are victims of violence. And it led to the creation of New World Waking when her story caught the eye of George Michael.

New World Waking: A Community Sing?

I've been thinking a lot about "New World Waking" and its next evolution. I kept thinking that it should be more open source, more "community sing." In other words, announce a performance and anyone who wants to sing in it, just show up.

That's why I've been posting the sheet music to the songs online, along with videos and MP3s which people can download.

I've also been informally testing the idea at the Sunday night Salon, which Mark Janas created, and which is now at Etcetera Etcetera. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, I got this room full of New York singers singing "Lazarus Come Out." Previously, I had gotten them all singing "My Thanksgiving Prayer." Both times, it sounded glorious!

So, these experiments have been fun, but now someone has approached me about possibly performing New World Waking as part of a performance festival next month.

Next month.

So, I have asked a couple of the singers who performed with Jim at the Easter Bonnet competition to join me, and I'm going to ask more. There are a number of great solos we can rehearse, and then let the chorus join in, with maybe one or two simple rehearsals.

At least, that's the idea.

I'm also looking at the list of songs. I have other numbers that might fit. At this point, it's only 45 minutes long. I could see it comfortably going a hour.

And I have one month to make it happen. Piece of cake.

I Enter This Battle Gravely - John Fitzgerald & Steve

Another piece from our January 2010 performance of New World Waking at St. Clement's. Here is John Fitzgerald and myself singing.

Jeramy sings New World Waking.

Here is Jeramiah Peay singing "I Enter This Battle Gravely" from New World Waking. This is from our "musical sermon" we sang a few weeks ago at St. Clement's.

Last Weekend at St. Clement's.

Don't forget that THIS Sunday morning, I'll be singing what we're calling "a musical sermon" as part of the Sunday morning worship service, performing much of New World Waking. Jeramy Peay and John Fitzgerald will be joining me. Starts at 11am. Everyone welcome.

Last three performances at St. Clement's and the houses this week have been filled with laughing, applauding, cheering people who are giving Jim the ride of his life. It's just so wonderful to experience.

But, as sad as we are to be leaving this wonderful historic building, we're equally thrilled that Jim will get a couple of weeks off, then he's back at it again on Feb 24. So, if you have a chance to see him here, do come. If not, we'll see you at the DR2!

Sunday Morning.

This Sunday morning, as I mentioned, I'm going to be singing at the Sunday morning services at St. Clement's Church, doing about a half hour of songs from New World Waking. Trying to figure out how to compress the piece and yet still get the message across, I've chosen:

Prologue
Gabi's Song
War By Default (vocals by Jeramiah Peay)
I Enter This Battle Gravely (with John Fitzgerald)
Holy Dirt
Lazarus Come Out
William's Song
My Thanksgiving Prayer (with John Fitzgerald)
Epilogue
My Rising Up

And we're gonna try to sneak "Rescue" in there, too.

Service starts at 11am.