Lately, I've been listening to Steven Delopoulos's newest (2nd solo) album, Straightjacket a lot. Steven Delop-o-who? Remember the group Burlap to Cashmere? He was the main guy from that band. This is a video of him performing his song, She Held My Hand. I've really come to love his music.
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What is Songs from the Office? Hmmmm. I could tell you. But how about you just come back and find out on January 5th. How's that for a marketing scheme. If you are bright, you may be able to formulate a hypothesis as to what this creative project might be based merely on the title of it.
If you are the type of person who would really like to check it out but are pretty sure you won't remember, I have a solution for you. All you have to do is put your email address in the little box at the top of this blog and hit enter. Follow a few simples steps after that and you'll be subscribed to this blog. All you have to do after that is forget all about it until an email pops into your inbox to let you know there's a new post.
Disclaimer. Songs from the Office is NOT about the TV show, The Office, though that is one of my favorite shows.
On the last Sunday of the year, at our church, we usually do a family-friendly service with a little different approach. The theme this past Sunday was "You Can't Take It Back" and it was all about how we communicate with each other. The idea is that once you say something, you can't take it back so use your words for good, not bad.
One element of the service was a parody I wrote of the song, Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. I really liked the way it turned out. I'm not sure of all the copyright issues for parodies (I'd have to ask my friend, Al Yankovic on that one) so I'll just post the original lyrics here. You can sing it yourself. Enjoy!
Insert Shoe
(Parody of Grandma God Run Over By A Reindeer)
by Ben Chilcote
Once you say a word you can’t unsay it
Words you say are permanent as ink
Once a word is thrown you can’t retrieve it
So make sure you don’t speak before you think
They were dressing for the party
He was putting on his tie
The commotion in the closet
Let him know her favorite dress was growing tight
Then she asked for his opinion
Panic welled up from within
His hesitation gave the answer
Let’s just face it there’s no way that he could win
CHORUS
She was up late on her Facebook
Writin’ emails on the side
Someone’s email made her angry
So she spoke her mind and shot off her reply
Friends on Facebook posted comments
Some were laughing, some appalled
In terror she checked in her sent box
Sure enough her mouse had clicked on “Reply All”! (Reply All!?)
CHORUS
He smiled and said “Congratulations”
Then he exclaimed, “When are you due?”
A sailor would have been embarrassed
By the colorful rebuttal that ensued
If your mouth gets you in trouble
And you don’t know what to do
Either find a hole to jump in,
Or turn away, open mouth and insert shoe
CHORUS
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Thank you to my friend Andy for sending me this link. Interesting idea, 1000 True Fans. Basically, it proposes that if you have 1000 True Fans you can make a living in your niche. For me, that would probably mean music. It sure is a tempting venture to pursue.
My musical pursuits have been interesting throughout my life. When I was in high school I actually used to pray that I would get to be in a Christian band some day. After a year or so in music ministry it dawned on me that I play in a (more or less, cover) band every week. My prayer came true.
I won't deny that time to time I daydream about what it would be like to be a full-time performer. It would so work for me, too. My wife doesn't work and our kids our homeschooled so they could all come with me (if my family couldn't join me, there'd be no deal)
To be honest, for me to pursue a music career right now would be self-serving. I can say for certain that God isn't giving me any hint that He wants me to pursue a music career - even a side hobby career. For now, I'll continue to explore things like this blog, my other blog, and above all, obedience to God because I did, after all, make him in charge of my life.
I'm not naive, though. I've had many people over the years make comments to me that have made me confident that God has gifted me in a way to use music to minister to people. That is also a tempting venture to pursue. But I need to make sure my motives are right and that I'm not just trying to be popular. Or do things so people will compliment me and make me feel good about myself. God gave me my gifts to serve others and He will be the one to take care of my and my family's needs. I'm pretty sure that's what Jesus meant when He said seek first the Kingdom of God.
In the coming year I have some ideas to use my gifts to share with others over the internet. So for my 3 True Fans, stay tuned!
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As a worship leader I preview a good amount of Christmas music to use in our services. Over the years there have been a few that I always come back to. Here are three of my favorite slower songs for Christmastime.
Mary's Prayer
by Bebo Norman.Sleep baby Jesus
Close your weary eyes
Hide yourself in faithful dreams
Before yo live yor life
Slip away to heaven
And rest in gentle peace
Never to awaken
The Lord your soul to keep
Cause your feet will walk on water
Your eye will pierce the dark
Your heart will save the souls of men
Your hands will bear the scars
Sleep baby Jesus
For now your time has come
To heal the wounded leper
To calm the raging storm
With perfect steps of perfect grace
You leave behind your fear
And walk along these dusty roads
Though your fate is clear
'Cause your feet walk on water
Your eyes pierce the dark
Your heart will save the souls of men
Your hands will bear the scars
Sleep baby Jesus
My Father and my child
Beneath this broken cross of sin
Stained with men's denial
And though you now are breathless
With thorns upon your head
Your body has been broken
So your children can be fed
'Cause your feet have walked on water
Your eye have pierced the dark
Your heart as saved the souls of men
Your hands now bear the scars
A Cradle Prayer
by Rebecca St. James.Jesus I love you my Lord my life
Where would I be without you
Here in the quiet, the still, the night
I am in awe of you
Trials may come and friends they may go
What really matters is you my Lord
Beautiful Savior my God, my friend
I am in awe of you
Lord I am in awe of you
Trials may come and friends they may go
What really matters is you my Lord
Jesus I love you my Lord my life
Where would I be without you
Here in the quiet, the still, the night
I am in awe of you
Why would you, Creator and King
Come as a baby for all, for me
Beautiful Savior, my God, my friend
I am in awe of you
I am in awe of you
Welcome To Our World
by Chris Rice.Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God
You've been promised, we've been waiting
Welcome Holy Child
Welcome Holy Child
Hope that you don't mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long-awaited Holy Stranger
Make Yourself at home
Please make Yourself at home
Bring Your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
Word now breaking Heaven's silence
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world
Fragile finger sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born
Unto us is born
So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world
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In my final blog post tribute to Fourth Avenue, I share Fourth Avenue's Promotional Video featured on their YouTube Channel. (They have a bunch of recent concert video footage posted there.)
Like I said, Fourth Avenue was a great experience. I traveled to about a dozen states (or more) and even got to travel to the Netherlands to sing on a new Holland-American cruise liner. (We were paid entertainment on the docked ship while VIPs toured the new vessel for 2 days.)
Check out www.fourthavenue.com. If you're interested in a cappella and supporting local artists, purchase the newest CD, High Energy Harmony. This was recorded live while I was still in the group and is a really good cd. And if you ever get a chance, check out Fourth Avenue in concert - they still put on a really great show!
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While in Fourth Avenue we were asked to come back for a second commercial. I forgot to mention that in the first commercial we were officially "menacing urban youth". In this commercial we were supposed to be like a boy band (I think) - this was when boy bands were still hip!
This commercial was also shot in Columbus at a restaurant (obviously). I don't think it got as much air play as the first one. It was pretty fun to be part of it. During this time we did a whole slew of school shows and we sang the jingle each time. It got kind of old but sort of made us a one-hit wonder in a way... Enjoy!
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In light of the recent prime-time revival of a cappella I thought I'd do a shout out and a throw back to my vocal band days.
I spent 2001 to 2004 in a professional vocal band called Fourth Avenue. I held the prestigious title of "tenor". This was an awesome experience and though the group formed in 1993, they are still together! You can find out more at www.fourthavenue.com.
One of the highlights of being in the group was our opportunity to make 2 commercials for Safe Auto. You can watch the first one we made below. We actually arranged and recorded our own version of the well-known jingle (which is what is heard on the commercial). It was an interesting experience shooting the spot. We shot it in Columbus, Ohio during the night. Honestly, we spent most of our time sitting around in the trailer. Enjoy!
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My blog has been live about a month now and has had a few hundred visitors which include a handful of international visitors. Hopefully this is only humble beginnings.
After some hard thinking, I had an 'a-ha' moment. I decided to split my website into two sites. Now that I've had more time to think about it, its clear to me that I've been trying to have one website to share two separate areas of my life. So I've created a new website called lifeinthekingdom.com BenChilcote.com will remain as a website to share anything that relates to my creative side of life: music, art, creative projects, etc. Lifeinthekingdom.com will be my main site where I explore life in the Kingdom of God - and one I'll probably be posting on more regularly.
There is an easy way to keep up with any new blog posts. Simply sign up to my RSS Feed and you will receive an email every time I post a new entry. Don't worry, it doesn't put you on any mailing list or anything. In fact you don't get any email unless I post.
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I will still be making a few adjustments to the two blogs as I get the time. Thanks for everyone who has checked out my site so far!
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