Agents of Future: Because life, love and faith are messy

I had the radical privilege last summer to spend some time with Portland, Oregon’s Agents of Future. The band is facilitated by Todd and Angie Fadel who have become awesome friends who I wished lived closer, and they’ve really inspired Rob and I in our living and our worship. They’re part of a killer church family in Portland called The Bridge.

When they were with us last August, the band did a collaborative worship thing with our collective (also called The Bridge). There were balloons being pulled out of a refrigerator, toilet paper enveloping everyone in the room, buckets and pots and pans serving as instruments, children playing, and a genuine ‘I have no idea what’s happening but it’s marvellous’ feeling amongst all of us involved. Things like that just don’t happen in London. You can check out the videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/thebridgecollective#p/u/1/B3-4a3uVYgk and here http://www.youtube.com/user/thebridgecollective#p/u/2/dmGUMFURdmU

Anywho, why bring this up now? Well I was just sitting and listening to the chunk of their material I’ve got on my iTunes and this group makes me love Jesus more like few do. They’re so honest and so real and so raw. No worshippy BS that ignores the real life muck. True, real, gut-wrenching faith. I love it. And you should too ;0)

You can download a lot of their stuff on Soundclick  but I would totally recommend getting a CD or two or ten off of them. If you happen to be one of my real-life friends, ask me next time you see me and I’ll give you one as they gave us a few to hand out. If you happen to be at Greenbelt this year, I think they just might be there again. Do come along and expect anything to happen.

An Ode to the Terribly Wonderful 90s

I was sitting here tonight when my iTunes suddenly switched to the unmistakeable intro lyrics ‘U Can’t Touch This’ and just as happens every other time the song comes on my body begins twitching and swaying and the entirety of the song then proceeds out of my mouth- like it or not- and shamelessly so. I’ve since gone on a bit of a musical journey tonight and am convicted that if I don’t share this experience the world will truly suffer a bit. Therefore, I proudly (perhaps too proudly) present a musical trapse through my 90s, the formative years in my musical taste development.

The journey begins, as we have already, with the now Reverend Hammer. Hammer pants and a bit of the ol’ dissin’ other artists… good stuff!

MC Hammer: U Can’t Touch This 1991

I’m not sure how easily we can move on with this journey, seeing as that was untouchable by most people’s standards, yet we must perservere, for it would otherwise be a dull trip. Our second stop involves a band very near and dear to my heart. My first love, my first CD (and I also owned them on vinyl and cassette), my first concert experience. And, I kid you not, my first staged walkout in protest of a cause I believed whole-heartedly in: having being teased for being a ‘blockhead’ relentlessly, when a teacher took up the banter I was compelled to rally the other fans together, exiting geometry class, my back emblazoned with the large lettering (straight from the fanclub itself)- New Kids on the Block.

NKOTB: The Right Stuff 1989

Now them’s some moves! But I’m not sure that I’ve ever recovered from the jealousy of seeing those girls in the car with my boys, especially not with Joe *huff*. But as that was in fourth grade and I’m now happily wed, we’ll let it slide once again. Onwards the music plays…

Perhaps a bit less recognisable, I’m not even sure who this dude is! But I can vividly picture the cassette single that I’m sure is still sitting in a box at my mom’s house. A one hit wonder, with a dull video to go with it, so focus on the music, puhleeze. I’m sure it’ll deliver ;0)

Paperboy: Ditty 1993

The next video is not for the faint of heart and I certainly hope that Tipper Gore doesn’t get a glimpse of my blog. My first act of musical rebellion, so far as my memory serves, was with a stealthy purchase at The Warehouse of the single that raised absolute hell with censorship in the year 1990. So shake a fist at the system and enjoy the glimpses of fashion- in particular the giant peace sign earrings which I too owned in pink splatter paint!

2 Live Crew: Me So H***y 1990

Alongside all this early hip-hop and rap and pop crap, an untapped area of music layed in wait for me. I stepped into high school and was welcomed by rock n roll, greeted warmly by Metallica in the nightmareish form of Enter Sandman.

Metallica-Enter Sandman
http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=5800332,t=1,mt=video
Metallica: Enter Sandman 1991

I may easily get my fill of NKOTB these days but Metallica still owns. And while I’ve managed to let go of the fashion carryovers from the previous videos, the metal and grunge remains (and I’d still quite like to get an undercut!).

So that’s part one of what could easily be 10 parts but for now we’ll leave it as is. I hope you’ve enjoyed a bit of silliness and also been delighted to see me settle for something more acceptable. Oh and a word of warning: I saw today that scrunchees are coming back into style. Beware the return of the early 90s!