Concert at the Lone Wolf - Nov 7

Just finalized it--I'll be playing a little show at the Lone Wolf Coffeehouse November 7th @ 7pm. Some very fine musician friends of mine will be joining me (Jeremy, Kelsey, Ryan, and Jonathan). Come by and bring your friends!

Music

So, here's some of the music I've enjoyed or stumbled upon the past couple weeks:

• The gorgeous choral music of Eric Whitacre--particularly "When David Heard."
  
• The sad music of William Fitzsimmons
• The new Swell Season album
• Free Music I haven't heard (but the Swell Season single is on it).

Whatever my God ordains is right...

Hymns are filled with such a richness and depth. I've been pondering this one recently:

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
His holy will abideth;
I will be still whate’er He doth;
And follow where He guideth;
He is my God; though dark my road,
He holds me that I shall not fall:
Wherefore to Him I leave it all.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
He never will deceive me;
He leads me by the proper path:
I know He will not leave me.
I take, content, what He hath sent;
His hand can turn my griefs away,
And patiently I wait His day.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
His loving thought attends me;
No poison can be in the cup
That my Physician sends me.
My God is true; each morn anew
I’ll trust His grace unending,
My life to Him commending.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
He is my Friend and Father;
He suffers naught to do me harm,
Though many storms may gather,
Now I may know both joy and woe,
Some day I shall see clearly
That He hath loved me dearly.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
Though now this cup, in drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it, all unshrinking.
My God is true; each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow shall depart.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
Here shall my stand be taken;
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet I am not forsaken.
My Father’s care is round me there;
He holds me that I shall not fall:
And so to Him I leave it all.

-by Samuel Rodigast

A Heli Ride

"This is an awesome thing."

A Day in the Life

Here are some random pictures from my first day back in Skagway.


As I walked to the hiking trail with some friends, I passed my neighbor who was cutting up some dinner: a bear he just shot. I stopped to talk with him and about half way through our conversation I realized that for most of my friends, this wouldn't be a normal occurrence. Ah yes, I am back in Alaska. And I like it!

We made our way up the hiking trail and found ourselves sitting on a large rock looking over the peaceful lake.

We laughed, told stories, and laughed some more while playing the HAHA game. I like my Tennessee friends.


I stopped to catch my breath as I overlooked the beautiful Skagway harbor. Someone told me today that it's the 12th largest cruise ship port in the world! I never would have guessed it, especially on a day like this.


The town was pretty empty this evening. Sometimes it's nice to be a familiar place.


As I unpacked my bags this evening, I smelled a wonderful aroma coming from downstairs. Ryan cooked up a roast and thankfully invited me to join him. Come to find out, the roast was from a mountain goat--that is, a mountain goat from the mountain a few miles down the tracks! Not only that, it was organic, free-range, antibiotic-free, and hormone-free---Whole Foods doesn't even offer that! Rumor has it, the train rulebook now has a new rule: no mountain goats are allowed on passenger trains.... Mmmmm, it was mighty tasty!

It's nice to be back in Alaska.

My Journey North

Some photos I took on my way to Alaska! (Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the deer, porcupine, 7 dall sheep, or 2 moose that I saw on the way!)

Looking out the window at perhaps my favorite place in the world: the San Juan Islands

The Drive into Skagway:

Caffeine and Nicotine

So I'm adding some videos from a recent coffee house to my myspace. Here's the first installment.

it's about time

How does this always seem to miss mainstream US media? I'm glad to hear the FBI is actually doing something to discourage sex-trafficking.

M&M's

How many M's are in M&M? Two. 

Precisely my point.

pleasantly surprised

so this band wrote me and said "we're better than the picture." I thought to myself "yeah right". But for some reason I decided to give them a try--probably because i saw they were from seattle. as i perused their shabby and cluttered myspace site i tried to convince myself that they were terrible. yet somehow, i couldn't. to be honest, it's not the most creative music, but they are tasteful in their instrumentation and have some solid vocals. i know nothing about them but i enjoyed the listen. 

Weeping for yet on account of the President

A word from John to the President

Wingsuit Jumping in Norway!!!

This is sick!!


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.