Daily Song : The blessing of Hope

Pierce Pettis and Eric Fiedor wrote an incredible Christian hope song with beautiful images to our lives on earth interweaved with our daily walk & struggles in life. My church group ACTS has covered it a couple of times and I have shared it with Pierce enough to know that he would be fine to broadcast this on youtube. I don't claim trademark to anything in the song or the video... just a mere guitar player. If a photo obtained thru google search is found to be a problem we will remove this.

I did also not do this to sell ACTS music, but rather introduce you to a wonderful song that you can find on iTunes by Pierce or a fantastic cover by Carolyn Arends. Please for your sake, and your congregations, look this song up, buy it and cover it during lent..... this is what it's all about Christians... not arguing over some verse or theological point. We're saved, and we should have the hope for our future in heaven.



I’ve Got a Hope
Eric Fiedor & Pierce Pettis

Man is born to trouble
All the days of his life
As the sparks fly upward
From bonfires at night
They fill up the heavens
With pin points of light
And I've got a hope
That is not in this world

Time, it is turning
Like a plow in the field
It roots up the earth
And what's hidden is revealed
Sowing the future
While the past, it is sealed
I've got a hope
That is not in this world

Half of the battle
Is only with myself
While the other half
Is something I can't help

Lest I should stumble
I try not to forget
That every hair is numbered
Every footstep, every breath
And this life that I'm living
It will not end in death
I've got a hope
That is not in this world

I've got a hope that is not in this world

©9/21/00 Cal IV. Publishing/Slapfight Songs (ASCAP) all rights reserved

And we're all lucky enough to have a chance to hear Carolyn live doing the song

Not to be....

The signs abound with shouts of Super Syn and Clean 7500
Oh well, I just need routine maintenance and you weren’t here.
There is no crying in this world for guys who are brain dead.
Just more signs that it’s your money where they really care.

An old guy passed saying “that it ain’t bad ‘cept the wind”
Yep and he kept walking and I kept wondering about you.
Did you notice that I started show up again and again?
You acted like I didn’t exist, or was that just being shrewd?

So it is not to be,
And it never was.
A bubble burst you see
Just another day.

I turned a page and was taken back to an ordinary day,
Picking you up from work, watching you stride to the car.
Funny it’s that memory, but not when we parted ways
Still I wonder on a Saturday afternoon, where you are?

There is a God; and she didn’t want us to be after all,
Such a joy ride, such despair; we had moments at the top
Yet where is the great writing, foreplay, climax, after fall
I’m left with wondering if the real right move was to stop.

So it is not to be,
And it never was.
A bubble burst you see
Just another day.

An email arrives and another parent of a friend has died.
Where is the fit to my life, and do I have two, ten, or twenty left?
I can stop and wallow in dread of life, or honestly say I tried.
A line, a contact, a comment on a blog, oh I sound bereft.

But the grace of friends and the Holy Spirit above lift me
To a life that I have no earthly merit to inherit
Yet here I am in the midst of the life with no marquee
So I pause, raise a glass, and of course grin and bear it.

So it is not to be,
And it never was.
A bubble burst you see
Just another day.

By Dave Schipper © 2010 Rose Riversongs

Washing clothes in Mumbai

Incredible... http://www.mumbaimoments.com/

Daily Song : The blessing of Simple Faith

When I started this blessing thread it was going to end with Faith, Hope and Love; and I knew the Faith song that has been in my bones recently. David Tamulevich of Mustard's Retreat forwarded his song "Simple Faith" to a collection of friends of Christine Kane, and I had the chance to hear it for the first time. (I too was on that collection.) Wow it has instantly become a favorite of mine. Simple Faith is on their "MR7" 2005 cd and has Jan Krist or Kerrie Porter singing a beautiful female harmony. Here is a great review of the cd.

I love how they describe the song as laws to live by :

"...There is no Hell to fear. No judgment day drawing near
Trust that inner voice you hear, everyday
Life's not a goal or race, it's about heart and faith
And living a life of grace. Everyday..."

Then how about this endorsement:

" I have heard the song. Simple Faith, and think its wonderful......It's a fine album, my friend. Congratulations." - Peter Yarrow, Peter, Paul & Mary

I highly recommend you buy at least the song on iTunes for inspiration for when you need it...

Daily Song : The blessing of Charity....

We are the World 1985 and one of the most successful joint efforts of musicians and while they didn't save the world they did generate resources and one fantastic video. It was fun to look back, but let us not forget charity is something to live daily and locally. Yes I know they have an updated one for Haiti... another great cause. Here's my bias, I won't know anymore than a few on that video.

Daily Song : The blessing of Everyday Miracles

Everyday Miracles.... Let's just say this could the blessing of new life, old life, that toaster and coffee maker working in the morning, and a warm shower. When I was looking for a video of Sara Grove's song, "Everyday Miracles"... I came across this wonderful video; and while I'm normally not known to post heartwarming stuff... this one is too cute and also too on track to the theme not to post it. The video in front of church tagged to the end of this is fun to watch too.

Gypsy Soul

It's been a while since I've had a sponsor on the blog, so why not interrupt my Daily Song lenten journey with a commercial for ME.... yes, I took some time to record a live version of the title cut off my Gypsy Soul CD (digital released only). Here what I had to say on the video notes:

I was this close to not sharing this song because the vocals weren't perfect, then I thought... my vocals are never perfect. Gypsy Soul had to be the name of my iTunes released cd because I'm half Bohemian, and after I wrote the song one weekend after being inspired by a rare book I read of my wifes (albeit about 2 paragraphs)... the idea blossomed into such a fantasy night type of song. May we all enlist and allow our Gypsy Souls to take over every now and then.

Yes a better recorded version of this exists in iTunes... run out and buy it for a mere $.99...

please.. '-)

never a loss to beg... ha...

enjoy... I get more singing in tune as the song goes along... got to love the hat! Dave

Daily Song : The blessing of Grace

Grace is defined in Christianity as the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God. Free, ah yes I can appreciate that, and unmerited, yep I resemble that. Funny it did take me a long time to appreciate the word when I heard it used more frequently when I moved from Roman Catholic to ELCA Protestant.

This week's daily song blog is going to look at blessings, and with Grace I needed to go to one of my favorite folk / country songwriters, Pierce Pettis. Pierce is also a Christian and is not shy to use it in his songs. In state of Grace he takes on growing up Christian in his home state of Alabama where the tension of racism is also real.

Daily song : Tuesday Morning.

Tuesday's Gone by Lynrd Skynrd... maybe... Ruby Tuesday by the Stones... hmm never was much of a stones fan... then I own this depressing song Tuesday Morning by Etheridge about 911... what a relief when a You Tube search showed up a Pogues song that I wasn't familiar with. I remember once Allison told me my voice had a lot of the same qualities as their lead singer... oh come on... he's not that bad... HA... and this is a nice upbeat song to get you going.. I did me.



Too many sad days
Too many Tuesday mornings
I thought of you today
I wished it was yesterday morning
I thought of you today
I dreamt you were dressed in mourning
But I knew that you
With your heart beating
And your eyes shining
Would be dreaming of me
Lying with you
On a Tuesday morning

I fell through the window
And I found that I was still breathing
I thought of tomorrow
And the fear that you might leave me
I thought of tomorrow
And I wished it was Monday morning

But I knew that you
WIth your heart beating
And your eyes shining
Would be dreaming of me
Lying with you
On a Tuesday morning

Turn your face from me
And I will cover myself with sorrow
Bring Hell down upon me
I will surrender my heart to sorrow
Bring Hell down upon me
And I will say goodbye tomorrow

But I knew that you
With your heart beating
And your eyes shining
Would be dreaming of me
Lying with you
On a Tuesday morning

Daily song : Stormy Monday

I grew up on the Allman's singing this great blues song.... where's a video taped in 2009...

But then I ran into this Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughn....

And here's T-Bone Walker who wrote the song...

Daily Song : Sunday Kind of Love

Ah Sunday could have easily been Kristofferson's Sunday Morning Coming Down, but I've always been partial to Sunday Kind of Love since I was a kid and heard Kenny Rankin cover it. Now here is an outstanding young lady... she's 16 in the following video.

Per the video:

Renee Olstead performs at the 2005 Montreux Jazz Festival.

Rebecca Renee Olstead is an American actress and singer. A complete entertainer, she is very active in acting, singing and voiceovers. Her special abilities include vocals, violin, character voices, sign language, dancing, cartooning, chess and basketball.

Born in Houston, Texas on Father's Day (1989), she has pleased crowds of all ages with her unique style for over six years. Her emotional energy and four octave range produces an extraordinary entertainment experience.

Congrats Hannah!

And I even don't know who Hannah is... but these Parkington Sisters... can I be their roadie? they look like a fun bunch to hang with. Before you click start... turn down the sound they scream a little... Ha.

Daily song : Saturday They'll all be back

Well I can't break my daily song until next at least by next Tuesday HA... Saturday has been in many of a song, but one of my all time favorites is an old song by David Wilcox. Boy I can remember buying this cd. I was just prowling the music shop in a mall, looking for something that would catch me. David's "How did you find me here?" just spoke to me from the artwork and (get this) the label. A&M I believe was the label and I trusted it... and the artwork. "Acoustic"

When I unwrapped it and got woven into incredible stories, "Eye of a Hurricane", "Rusty Old American Dream", "Language of the Heart", this Saturday song. Top it off I just love when an artist uses an old melody to new lyrics like David did in "Jamie's Secret". Maybe the internet and downloading has tarnished this huntiing of CDs and discovering the whole cd compiled by the artist. That cat is out of the box, and I won't be writting about all the duds I bought on a whim either.

Enjoy the video I found but really if you never heard of David, look him up.

I'm officially procrastinating...

Ok I should be working on taxes, my employee reviews, or even getting ready for the church gig later in the day... but just had to show you this women's photoshop work with Avatar... great film and a good job by him in 30 minutes. Wouldn't we all love to be able to slip ourselves into those incredible bodies. Great film.



Video notes: her link http://www.youtube.com/user/chescaleigh

I'm officially obsessed with this movie. Have you seen it? What did you think?!

Considering this photo edit only took me 30 minutes, i think it's pretty damn good :) Now if only i could make myself a tail...

FYI - photo retouched in Adobe Photoshop CS3, filmed using iShowu, edited in iMovie

Daily Song : Friday...

A while back I did a theme mix and went and found songs for each day.. this JJ Cale piece is the absolute best Friday song...

Now you can hear Clapton's real influence on the Ocean Blvd LP.

California in my Mind

A little video on a favorite song from my Gypsy Soul iTune released CD. The song started as a harmless seductive play on a line from Allison Sattinger, but turned into desperate lonely song of a man wanting this haunting California image in his head. If you dice and slice reality into it's truths this song falls apart, so let's just let it play out for the imagery that was enhanced by a few of Allison's other songs too.

The cats are brought to you by Mr. Tangerine Man, Willie the Fat boy, and Lillith the Princess.

Daily Song : Thursday's Child

I found this great acoustic song... I have more digging to do on who and what about this woman singer...

This is definitely not the Bowie song!

Daily Song : Ash Wednesday

Tom Russell's "Ash Wednesday" feat. Gretchen Peters - From the Album "Love & Fear"

After I noticed that this song has started me thinking of posting a theme song a day... I'll see if I can keep it up for lent.. 40 days.

First batch will for sure continue on the days in the week, stay posted to see if I change the idea...

Makin' of the new Wailin' Jenny's Cd

Ok... so I'm excited.

30 minutes of Pieta Brown

After I found The Pines on the WI Public TV show called 30 Minutes, they were talking about the Pieta & Bo Ramsey's performance and how all the shows are searchable in their archives... sure shooting... Benson told us during dinner that Pieta that weekend was opening for Mark Knopfler... pretty nice gig. I bet there were a few Knopfler fans surprised.

Yes here is a weird looking link, but I tried it and it worked...http://wpt2.org/media.cfm?id=414&category=search

Show's description: From Iowa City, Iowa, Pieta is the prolific daughter of folk music giant Greg Brown. In addition to her own work, Pieta recently supplied vocals to a new CD by Calexico ? the sensational border music band out of Tucson. On the 30-Minute Music Hour Brown was performing with her trio which includes guitarist Bo Ramsey.
First aired: August 27, 2008

Heart like a wheel

I don't know much about how or when this 1984 video was made, but Kate and Anna McGarrigle with Linda Ronstadt and one other unidentfied singer put in one awesome performance. Anna wrote the song that became the title track on Linda's fifth solo record. The record was a definite winner with absolutely no dud songs anywhere to be found, and classics... oh my... Willin, Faithless Love, When will I be loved, You're no good.... and the Hank Williams song Linda won her first Grammy for...

Yet how powerful that LP was... this video is absolutely incredible... Happy Valentines day.

Skipper & his wife

The Pines with Benson Ramsey covers this Spider John song superbly... like Dylan taking on a master.


kipper and His Wife
(words by Spider John Koerner; arranged by The Pines)

Skipper and his wife traveled all their life
Leaving their friends to wonder
For many long days and a many long year
They turned to one another
And they cried,
All I had, in this world done gone

Sitting on a hillside, a moon lit night
A young girl and her lover
For may long hour till it come sunrise
They turned to one another
And they're cryin',
All I had, in this world done gone

The old man with the money in his hand
Lookin' for a place to hide
Along comes a a young man, gun in his hand
And they both sat down and cried,
And they're cryin',
All I had, in this world done gone

Well, gettin' ahead is harder than you think
But gettin behind is easy.
When everyone is going for the same damn thing,
Gettin' behind is easy
And your crying,
All I had in this world done gone

Nothing in your hands, nothing in your head
All you got is to borrow
Nothing in your hands is how you feel today
And there is nothing in your head tomorrow
And your crying,
All I had in this world done gone

A rare Stevie Ray Vaughn Clip

From one of my favorite records, Jennifer Warnes Famous Blue Raincoat...

Clay Riness Covered Up

Clay Riness is a wonderful folk musician and songwriter; and I will have the pleasure to host his house concert where he'll perform the songs that have influenced him the most. Gee Whiz... then I can't ask him to sing the cutting wood song... maybe he'll cover a Greg Brown story song. Some of you might recognize the name, Clay is also Weary Wolf and a contributor to this blog.

Here is Clay's description: blog that Clay posted explaining how this concert booking happened:


So, I just booked this gig. The whole thing happened so fast … proving to me that it was meant to be. No time to over think.

A few weekends ago, as I have mentioned, I spent some time with a few old friends playing and singing some of the most wonderful old songs. Songs which brought memories gushing through the floodgates; songs that were there for me when I was coming up as a young musician; songs that shaped me as a songwriter … that’s what they were and that’s what was so lovely. Talk about a musical version of comfort food.

I returned from the weekend energized and couldn’t seem to put a guitar down. I located and dusted off my old loose leaf gigging notebook and some folders of handwritten fake sheets, some of them over thirty years old, and poured over them, uncovering treasures not thought of since I quit playing out all those years ago. And, I had a reunion with a whole bunch of old friends. So many of those songs were simply brilliant.

I mentioned on the blog how the whole thing made me feel. Then, I got a little email from my friend Dave who organizes and hosts Bluff View Concerts, a little concert series up the road an hour or so.

“I guess we’ll have to talk about a house concert sometime,” he wrote.

A house concert? I haven’t done a house concert in … uh … decades. Probably 1987. What a wonderful thought! I emailed Dave back and told him that I had an idea for a show. I explained that in November of 2010 I had a concert booked at the Regional Arts Center (in conjunction with a one man art show of my father’s oil paintings). That concert would certainly be my normal show of original music, and I made it clear I had some contractual and moral obligations not to jeopardize the potential attendance of that event by being redundant.

You can see what’s coming here, no doubt. Yup. I proposed a show called “The Covered Up Concert” at which I would feature only covers of some of my all time favorite songs. He thought it was a fantastic idea. Further, I think the show will help to promote my November concert nicely, too.

Upon discovering that Dave’s house could seat about thirty-five people, I suggested that if he and his wife Lori were game, I would certainly offer a second show. After some discussion of marketing the event, we agreed to forge ahead with it and scheduled shows for Saturday, April 10th and Sunday, April 11th. I guess this note begins the marketing strategy. Surely we can convince seventy people to come and enjoy some of the best songs ever written, hmm? Well, OK, that’s my opinion there, regarding the songs.

I’m completely jazzed about how much fun this will be. Here’s a link to the flier / poster announcing the event (PDF format). If you’re local enough, please do print it and hang it up somewhere. Make reservations. Join us. It’s going to be a wonderful good time.

iTunes Genius

Hey iTunes has this big brother feature that actually reads your music tastes and playlists and puts them back into a database to use the knowledge to help make connections in your music, and in other people's music. It reads and understands even if the song was not bought thru iTunes, but there are many songs it has no clue about because they haven't been read on enough playlists. Like anything by Dave Zeman... Ha..

So when I clicked on a close friends music, Samantha Farrell's Lady Luck... to my glee she had connections... great playlist.

The Pines on Wis Public TV

Last week during the house concert the guys told me about taping this... wow... great job. I've got to get this out to people who attended, and those who missed it. Clicking on the picture won't help, here's the link http://wpt2.org/media.cfm?id=1114&category=30MMH

Joan of Arc and the dishes..

Of course only in this internet world could I go from iTunes to YouTube and watch and listen to a 1988 version of an incredible song...

you should enjoy it too...

The Night that Paddy Murphy Died

Ok I relearned this recently from the singing of the Finest Kind and have been singing it to myself on the way to work... why not share it with the world. Don't you just love the new hat? It's a hand me down from my late step dad Greg... he would love it that the first recording was a drinking song. Rest in peace Greg, but in keeping with the song, Greg wanted an open bar for his funeral. Well we tipped a few in his honor. I don't pretend to be Irish, but I also don't pretend to love their music. I hope you enjoyed the effort.

Bonnie Bishop "Every Time You Come Around"

Wow... the beautiful & soulful Bonnie Bishop.. another great video from MusicFog.com... and read their blog HERE

Dreaming by Blondie a country song?

So my 80's music culture is pretty weak, so I had to look up the original... dang I like Amy Speace's version better.

Amy Speace is the Real Thing..... III

Yes... I found another video of Amy doing this song... I love the audience reaction toward the end.

Neighbors win Grammys

How cool is this that Levon Helm and Steve Earle now live in Woodstock, and both won a Grammy this year. I wasn't aware that Earle put out a cd of Townes van Zant covers, but did see him last night on Austin City Limits. No wonder they loved the cd, he's got that great voice for Townes' music. Levon Helm from "The Band" won in a category called Americana with his record "Electric Dirt" I definitely have to check that one out.... more later. Here's a link to the article that enlightened me about the city connection: Link