I just returned home from a Derek Webb concert. Derek’s venue was the Gypsy Tea Room near downtown Dallas in the area known by locals as Deep Ellum. Deep Ellum used to be the hip part of town, the place where all the young urban twenty-somethings would descend every weekend for dining, music, and club hopping. This once very popular center has declined over the past several years as most of the nightlife has moved to the new and trendy “uptown” area. If you have ever been to a Christian concert, you might have been surprised by this one. When I saw and heard the Marilyn Manson style death-metal band…
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Scratching My Head at Derek Webb
I love Derek Webb. I first started listening to his music in 1994 when I was in college and when he was in Caedmon’s Call. I will never forget the first time I saw Derek perform live with Caedmon’s (circa 1995). It was at Tulane University in New Orleans, and I and the other hundred or so people were mesmerized for the entire concert. When I heard Derek sing and play “Bus Driver” that night, he became my favorite of the group. It was one of the best shows I’d ever been to. Caedmon’s Call was supposed to be playing Christian music, but it didn’t sound like any of the…
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What about Derek?
The following question appeared under my last blog entry. “Has anyone noticed that Derek Webb has been touring with JNAPP? Or that she has been touring with him… Maybe you could provide a blog post about Derek. I’ve been wondering for about a year now where he stands on some things.” The short answer is that, yes, I have noticed. But, no, I don’t know where he stands on the big question asked by Larry King—Can you be gay and Christian? I used to be a big fan of Derek’s music, but I’ve had a tough time listening to his work ever since his “Mockingbird” album (which I wrote about…
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Don’t Deconstruct
I posted a few sentences on social media a day or two ago that seem to have kicked the proverbial hornet’s nest. Here’s what I wrote: If you think deconstruction is just another name for reformation or revival, you don’t know what deconstruction is. Reformation dispenses with the bad but holds on to the good. Deconstruction tries to destroy both the good and the bad. Don’t deconstruct. Since writing this, there have been a string of fairly harsh denunciations. Just read the the “quote tweets” of what I wrote, and you’ll see what I mean. The basic objection I’ve read is this. “Denny, you don’t understand what deconstruction is. Deconstruction…
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God as the third rail of rock-n-roll
Back in the days when the earth’s crust was still hardening, I was a big fan of The Smashing Pumpkins. They were in the thick of the grunge scene–which was a whole new departure in rock music and which was all the rage for most of the 1990’s. After the grunge fad faded, the band broke up in 2000. Following a seven year hiatus, they got back together and have been trying to make a comeback. Lead singer Billy Corgan recently sat down for an interview with CNN, and he makes the astonishing claim that God is the “third rail” of rock-n-roll. He also gives a brief and trenchant critique…
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I Heart CCM
From some of the feedback I have gotten to yesterday’s post, I suspect that I may have given the impression that I am utterly cynical about contemporary Christian music (CCM). Nothing could be further from the truth. While CCM has its fair share of musical pablum to offer, so does secular music. And while there is some brilliant secular music, so there is also in CCM. If I tried to list every CCM artist or song that I have enjoyed over the years, the list would be too long. But there have been some that have had some staying power for me personally—meaning, there was something about the music or…
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Another Important Postscript on the Wild Goose Festival
A few weeks ago, I wrote a “post-op” piece on the recent “Wild Goose Festival” that included a variety of reports about how the conference went. It turned out to be a kind of would-be-Woodstock for Emergent church types. The speaker line-up was a list of progressive all-stars: Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, Shane Claiborne, Tony Jones, and many others. Musicians included Derek Webb, Jennifer Knapp, and others. A reporter from The Economist said that about 1,500 people showed up, and they included “artists and musicians, nonconformists, post-Christians, non-Christians, disaffected evangelicals and a liberal evangelical subset known as the ’emergent’ church.”
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Post-op on the “Wild Goose Festival”
Several weeks ago, I wrote about a conference that was to take place in North Carolina called the “Wild Goose Festival.” News reports and the advance promo material made it out to be a kind of would-be-Woodstock for Emergent church types. The speaker line-up was a list of progressive all-stars: Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, Shane Claiborne, Tony Jones, and many others. Musicians included Derek Webb, Jennifer Knapp, and others. I didn’t attend the conference, but someone from The Economist (of all magazines!) did. According to the report, about 1,500 people showed up, and they included “artists and musicians, nonconformists, post-Christians, non-Christians, disaffected evangelicals and a liberal evangelical subset known as…
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Emergent Confab
USA Today has a note about a conference/music festival for emergent-types, and it is set to take place next week in North Carolina. It’s called “The Wild Goose Festival,” and conference organizers are expecting about 3,000 to attend. According to the website, here’s what “The Wild Goose Festival” is all about. “The Wild Goose is a Celtic metaphor for the Holy Spirit. We are followers of Jesus creating a festival of justice, spirituality, music and the arts. The festival is rooted in the Christian tradition and therefore open to all regardless of belief, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, denomination or religious affiliation.”
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How the Prayer of Jabez Killed Caedmon’s Call
I just finished listening to a fascinating interview with Derek Webb in which he gives some of the reasons for the break-up of Caedmon’s Call (listen below). Believe it or not, Derek says that Bruce Wilkinson and The Prayer of Jabez were in part to blame for the band’s demise! Derek explains that his first solo album was inspired by an encounter that Caedmon’s Call had with Bruce Wilkinson at a trade event. At this event, Wilkinson was supposed to speak for about 20-30 minutes, and then Caedmon’s was to perform a few songs when he finished. Wilkinson held forth for about an hour and a half telling the crowd…
