Album the Tenth

Carolyn's upcoming tenth album may very well be a hymns album (I got a hint about that straight from the songbird's mouth). So, we all know what that means: A blog survey! What hymns would you like to hear Carolyn work her magic on?* We've discussed this a bit over at the (now defunct) message board, but why not revive it here? It's always a fun one to rehash.

Here are mine:
Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee
I Love to Tell the Story
There is a Fountain
At Calvary
The Old Rugged Cross
It Is Well With My Soul

*As G.K. Chesterton said: "A preposition is a very good thing to end a sentence with."

I Hereby Volunteer!

This is not a joke.

I am volunteering my services as a keyboard player on the "next" Carolyn Arends album. I have some little experience as a player and would be happy to submit a sample of my work.

It's a long shot, but I'll take it.

And I can't wait for the next album!!!

A New Poll

There's a new poll on the sidebar. Express your opinion!

Carolyn on The Debbie Chavez Show

In our renewed and continuing efforts at Carolyn Arends 202 to stay on top of and offer a forum for discussion of all news pertaining to Carolyn Arends, I am opening up (a day beforehand, thank you very much) a post to discuss Carolyn's appearance on The Debbie Chavez Show.

OK, we all got the e-newsletter from Rose. (What? You didn't? Make sure you go sign up right now at Carolyn's site. We'll wait for you here.) Carolyn will have a live, streaming interview on The Debbie Chavez Show (based out of Bellingham, WA -- yay!) tomorrow, April 22, 2008, from 12 noon - 12:30 (PST). You can listen to it here. Apparently, they will be taking calls on the air (1-866-597-PATH) and responding to e-mails.

What do you think, fellow 202ers? Do we represent? Or do we give others a chance to get in on the conversation? I'm more inclined to the latter, since I've hassled Carolyn to the point of satiety, and I'm far more curious to hear what other fans have to say.

It does not sound like there will be any music (only 1/2 hour!), or at least not much, which is disappointing. Maybe Ms. Chavez will leave Carolyn a few minutes for one wee song. I'm hoping for the "Resurrection Song."

Well, this should be great! I'm glad, as always, that Carolyn will be getting more exposure. Just think: Someone out there who has never heard of Carolyn Arends will be introduced tomorrow to an artist whose work will enrich his soul -- Wow!

Guest Book

We now have a guest book! Hurrah!

I also updated some stuff on the sidebars -- groovy new colors (though we're stuck with the oddly colored balls until I become more proficient in altering HTML -- read: forever).

Enjoy, and keep on posting!

Message Board at Carolynarends.com

The message board at Carolyn's official site has been disabled.

I hope this will encourage more dispossessed posters to come on over and participate in this fan blog.

We'll try to do a better job of keeping this site updated with comments on any Carolyn Arends news that comes along. If you would like to join the group so that you may start topics for discussion, please let us know. You are very welcome here.

Converse on, fellow fans, converse on!

Lucky Number Thirteen

Well, 2008 is the thirteen year anniversary of Carolyn's debut album, I Can Hear You (Reunion Records, 1995). In a spirit of fun and celebration, I would like to take a poll. If you were to look over Carolyn's complete catalogue of music (including her Christmas album, her downloads, and contributions to collaborative efforts) and choose the definitive thirteen songs for the first thirteen years, what would you choose, and why? I humbly offer my own suggestions as follows (in no particular order):

"I Can Hear You" -- A fun song with a great beat; a crowd-pleaser with a strong message; Carolyn needs to contribute the sunglasses and white pants-suit from the video to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame -- sweet!
"Do We Dare" -- The best song ever written in any genre
"One-Syllable Words" -- You cannot let the marvelous coinciding of Chesterton's Orthodoxy's centennial and Carolyn's triskaidekial (sorry to mix Latin and Greek) pass by without including this gem.
"What Love Looks Like" -- Leave it to Carolyn to write one of the best songs about the life of Jesus without mentioning Him once by name
"Now in Flesh Appearing" -- A Christmas song that works just as well "in the middle of July;" plus, she rhymes "Kazakhstan," which is an historic first for Christmas season songwriting
"Travelers (The Airport Song)" -- Funny and lively with a poignant touch; will resonate with any person who has ever experienced the convenience of modern air travel
"Everybody Wants Everything" -- Possibly the coolest song Carolyn's ever recorded
"The Wasteland" -- Desolate and haunting, but ultimately redemptive; a masterpiece of minimalism; also, one of the few songs where you cannot hear a smile in her voice
"Not a Tame Lion" -- Great elaboration of Lewis's observation that Aslan is not "tame, but He is good;" has one of the greatest endings of all of Carolyn's songs
"Love is So Blind" -- This cover of Mark Heard's song is exquisite
"The Resurrection Song" (not sure of the title; I've only heard the song once) -- I can hardly wait until this one is recorded; I cried when I heard it, not that that is news.
"Everything Changes at Christmas" -- Happy and wonderful Christmas song; we must have played it 5,236,831 times in the two weeks leading up to Christmas this year
"We've Been Waiting For You" -- I think it has been scientifically proven that no parent can hear this song without blubbering; just watch the Kleenex come out the next time you're at a concert

Where am I right? Where am I wrong? What's my most outrageous omission (I think I can guess)?

My Cup Already Runneth Over, But . . .

OK! So, the 2008 American Chesterton Society Conference is already going to be amazing. Who wouldn't love three days in St. Paul, MN that not only celebrate the Centennial of Chesterton's masterpiece, Orthodoxy, but also include such Justine-pleasing presentations as "Chesterton and Shakespeare" and "Chesterton and Jane Austen," right? I am so going to be there!

Cloud Eight was floating pretty high, but then came the niggling little idea, "You know what would make this ACS conference even more sublime? Music by Carolyn Arends and Spencer Capier, of course!"

I said to Jason, my sounding board for all my crazy ideas, "I think I'm going to e-mail the ACS and ask them to book Carolyn for their conference."

Jason shot me down with a disparaging, "That's really weird. You're not Carolyn's promoter -- why would you approach an organization out of the blue about booking a concert with someone of whom they have most likely never heard?"

Well, if the ACS has "never heard" of Carolyn Arends, it's about time they did. I would, perhaps, not know about G.K. Chesterton, had I never read about him first in Living the Questions, and they would be down one three-year subscription. So, I remained undaunted by Mr. Gloomy's negativity. I decided to e-mail Paula Flink -- Fearless and Tireless Coordinator and Manager of Team Carolyn. If this really was weird, she would (gently and nicely as Canadians know so well how to do) let me down.

Well, Paula e-mailed back that it was OK by her if I contacted the ACS on Running Arends's behalf; so I did. Now, I'm scared as hell. It's pretty intimidating just to put your ideas out there to strangers with the very good chance that they will be rejected.

Still, though, they might not be. And, how cool would it be to get Carolyn and Spencer in Minnesota to rock out with their fellow Chesterton fans? How much would those fans get a kick out of "One-Syllable Words" and all the rest of her songs? It would be "legend -- wait for it, and I hope you're not lactose intolerant, because the second part is -- dary. Legendary!"

Here's to hoping for an upgrade from Cloud Eight to Nine!

Sweet Vindication!

Have you ever gotten an idea, and then gotten passionate about it? Thought about it; pondered it; imagined every little bit of it? You poured your heart and soul into seeing this wee little idea blossom into the grand dream that came to overwhelm your imagination? And then, the day of reckoning dawns, and everything either comes together beautifully or falls flat on its face . . . And it comes together beautifully and is maybe even better than you had dared to dream it might be? Isn't that GREAT?!!

Sometimes you just know things. And I just knew -- I just knew -- that if Carolyn Arends and Spencer Capier played at our church it would be a revelation and a blessing for all involved. So, I kept at it. I prayed and asked and was rebuffed. Then, I prayed and asked and was rebuffed. Then, I prayed and asked and, well, it was a little disheartening. Not that my church was opposed to having Carolyn come -- I think it was just that the timing was always off, and they had no real motivation to make room on the busy church schedule. Then, this past summer, I was sitting in Sunday service, watching a guest musical artist play on the stage. And she was OK, but certainly not Carolyn. And then I had a vision -- yes, a vision. I saw Carolyn and Spencer on that same stage/pulpit area, and I knew that this was the time to try, try again.

God's timing always is perfect, and suddenly everything I had hoped and prayed for fell into place. Yay! And I got so excited, not so much for myself, because, though there's no limit to my love of hearing Carolyn and Cap, I have had many an opportunity to enjoy that privilege over the years -- both in the U.S. and Canada. I was getting so excited for all of my fellow congregants who had most likely never experienced the pure pleasure and unmitigated joy of a Carolyn/Spencer concert.

(Sometimes, when I'm in a pondering mood, I think about that oblivious listener out there, right this moment, who is someday going to stumble across Carolyn's music and be blown away. I get so excited for this person, and yet I am filled with a bit of jealousy -- how cool to have all that amazing music lying hidden, just waiting to be discovered! Then I remember how much better it is to have had that music over the years, and I'm no longer green-eyed -- except that my eyes are usually rather green without any visions of jealousy dancing in my head.)

Anyway, the rest is beautiful history. Carolyn and Cap came on December 8 -- sadly without Paula Flink, the Queen of All Management/Booking Agent Types of Rock Stars, both Canadian and American -- and met with the whole panel of Calvary Chapel South's pastors and Mrs. pastors at a crowded and authentic Mexican restaurant. There, much jolly political talk ensued between Spencer and our pastor, Kevin, while Carolyn developed a sudden and pointed fascination for the food in front of her and I contemplated whether a dropped napkin could provide a refuge beneath the table. Joking aside, there was probably more civilized talk from opposite ends of the purple spectrum that night than there will be through this whole bloody presidential campaign. Oy!

But, when you're talking Carolyn and Cap, it's really all about the music, Stupid. And, when you're talking those two, the music is transcendent. The next morning, bright and early at the 9 AM service -- and only God knows how they managed it -- they were rocking; and the party continued on through the 11 AM service. I think that Pastor John summed the whole thing up best when he pulled me aside after second service and said, "That was really an annointed time." Amen.

I was pulled aside a lot that morning by the pastors three of CCS. Phenomenal, amazing, wonderful, and other words in the English vocabulary that almost, if not quite, describe the Carolyn/Cap experience were thrown around with justifiable abandon. Everyone was already busily at work, trying to come up with reasons to have them back as soon as possible. It took every measure of grace I could summon not to let go with a big, "I told you so!"

So, if you would like to see some of the fruits of my long labor of love, check out the tour page at Carolyn's site. This time, the church scored a coup by getting Mark "Love You Forever" Arends to join in the fun. Truly, it is hard to imagine a better couple to lead a Couples' Banquet than the Arendses. If I can get a date, I might just go myself this year. I wonder if Jason's free . . .

Christmas Concert Poster

This is a revised version of what I had posted earlier. I ended up thinking that the first was too busy, so I cleaned it up a little and changed some of the fonts so that it could be read more easily. These are going up around Kent on Friday -- but I'm holding one back, at least, for autographs by the rock stars and, eventually, framing.

One and a half weeks to go!

Carolyn Was My Co-Pilot

Last Sunday I took my younger son back to college - estimated (by Google Maps) at 235 miles, and 4 hours and 15 minutes. From there, I swung by my older son's place in Bloomington, IL. Another 106 miles and 2 hours 30 minutes. Finally, I headed home - 158 miles and 3 hours. Total trip: 600 miles and 9 hours 45 minutes. I was actually on the road for 9 1/2 hours, making the afore-mentioned stops, plus one for dinner and two for gas.

I was alone for more than half that trip - though I had my cell phone and took a couple'a calls from home. Plus, I had my I-Pod! So, other than listening to a couple of different preachers on low-power AM stations I got to re-discover Carolyn Arends!

I didn't go through the whole catalog, of course, but I did make note of two Christmas songs we must play at church this year: Come and See and Angels We Have Heard On High.

I'm always on the look-out for "jazzy" versions of Christmas tunes. I consider "Angels" to be on par with the better-known version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings done by Sara McLachlan and the Barenaked Ladies. Heck, even people who don't like most Christmas songs like their version. I'm willing to bet that Carolyn's cover would be as popular as that were it to get the right amount of airplay.

And you have to consider the scene: it's dark, there are few cars traveling north on I-39 and there's a little Honda speeding by (at exactly seven miles-per over the speed limit so as not to attract un-due attention). Inside, the driver is singing out loud, and not even trying to cover up that fact - first the lead, then different harmony parts of the chorus - as the odometer counts off the miles: 1.2 each minute. But we've probably all been there, haven't we?

And besides the Christmas songs there were other favorites from Travelers and This Much I understand. And no, I didn't "Dance Like No One's Watching" in my car, though I do, sometimes, at home).

Suffice it to say that I made it back home alive and in one piece, at 12;30 AM, without once even feeling like I was falling asleep. Thanks for the great music!

P.S. And Thanks!, I-Pod for the great battery life!

Time to Love Out Loud

A little over one week ago, my father-in-law went into the cardiac cath. lab at Evanston hospital for a procedure to, at least temporarily, fix his heart. Bill is eighty, and has had various health problems for many, many years. The last thing I expected, though, was to get a call from my wife at a little after ten that morning, after a family consultation with the surgeon. she told me, "My father didn't make it through the operation".

If the story ended there it would be one thing: a funeral, stories, a luncheon, a few drinks, a few laughs, old friends seen for the first time in years, perhaps even decades; but it doesn't end there. You see, Bill didn't die. The world-class cardiologist who performed his surgery, a man who is as experienced as a surgeon can be, teaching others throughout the world new procedures he's invented, well, he was wrong. Bill pulled through and is still alive.

I need point out that the surgeon took steps to keep my father-in-law alive for a while so the family could come in and talk to him (though he wasn't awake), and those same steps probably saved his life. The additional medicine he was given seemingly gave him a chance to recover.

Now, to say that what happened is a miracle is probably not correct; to treat what happened as a miracle is. And that's where "loving out loud" comes in.

When I arrived at the hospital the family was upstairs in the ICU waiting room. "Why" was the operative question, of course, after I thought that Bill had passed. As the day wore on, and the mood remained somber, I took a walk outside the hospital in the beautiful neighborhood that surrounds it. And a song popped into my head:

If I had only known that you were leaving here so soon
I would not have been so flippant when I offered you the moon
I'd have pulled my chair up closer to the railing of your bed
And chosen much more carefully the words I said

I would ask you for your stories
And I would tell you mine
I would give you much more credit
I would take more of your time
There's so much I left unspoken
If you were here right now
I would love you out loud

If I had said the words "I love you" every time they crossed my mind
Then you would have heard me tell you at least a thousand times
I know you knew it anyway, I guess you understood
But I would like to go back if I only could

I would ask you for your stories
And I would tell you mine
I would give you much more credit
I would take more of your time
There's so much I left unspoken
If you were here right now
I would love you out loud

I would touch you much more often
I would laugh at all your jokes
I would worry through your worries
I would dream through all your hopes
I would pray with you to heaven
Are you watching from there now
Do you know what I would give for the chance somehow

To ask you for your stories
I would tell you mine
I would give you much more credit
I would take more of your time
There's so much I left unspoken
If you were here right now
I would love you out loud
Oh, I would love you out loud

And now the whole family has that chance . . .

Thanks, Carolyn, for expressing sentiments that we all feel at times like these in such a beautiful way.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas . . .

. . . At least for this Carolyn Arends fan!

(Okay, that's the second ellipsis-ladened post introduction that I've used in a row on this blog. I'll restrain myself in the future.)

I just got the "green light" this morning from my church to book Carolyn for a Christmas concert in December. My cup runneth over! So, the tentative date is December 9, waiting only to be signed off on by the Big C herself. Merry Christmas to me and everyone else at Calvary Chapel South!

What a delightful way to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year! I wonder if we can coax a divergence from seasonal offerings for just one song and request the "resurrection song" that I heard at Barnabas. Or, is that too much of a Christmas hope? It may indeed suit, because, though we celebrate the Holy Birth, the shadow of the crucifixion and joy of the resurrection are always waiting just beyond the stable doors.

Early Merry Christmas!

Being a Carolyn Arends Fan Means . . .

. . . well, for one thing, at least, it means never seeing headlines in the tabloids about your favorite folk-pop-rock star like:

1) Wardrobe Malfunction
2) Checking into Rehab
3) "Forgetting" to Wear Underwear
4) Nightclub Brawling
5) Serial Marriage or Dating

Ever feel really, really, REALLY disconnected with popular culture?

Goodness gracious -- give me inspired songwriting, honest music and an understated, but powerful, stage presence any day. Don't you just feel so sorry for these young people out there who had fame, fortune and folly thrust upon them at such an early age? It is not good for them. A pastor once told me that "we humans are not built for fame -- it most often destroys us." And I wonder how Carolyn escaped.

There are four reasons that come to mind as to why Carolyn is so well-grounded. The first is, of course, that she knows that she is a sinner redeemed by the blood of Jesus. That's enough to knock even the most phenomenally talented person back on her heels with humility and awe. Too few entertainers are sustained by anything more than their own pathetic personalities. They do not have eternal perspective nor anything bigger to trust in than the fame and money that simultaneously make them larger than life and smaller than the people they were created to be.

The second is Carolyn's parents, who obviously did an admirable job in raising her. If you have the stomach to dig at all into the personal lives of the young, rich and destructive, their dysfunctional families are the common melody upon which every variation is based. I've met Carolyn's parents, and they are warm, encouraging, interested people -- and that was how they treated me, a complete stranger! It is easy to see how being raised in that environment would be nothing but a positive inheritance when facing the challenges of living a public life.

The third is that Carolyn was not a goofy teenager when the spotlight was shone upon her. She was in her mid-twenties when she released I Can Hear You, and I remember when first hearing it that it did not sound at all like a "debut album." There was depth and maturity, professionalism and vision that is usually lacking in the initial offerings of even the most in-earnest Christian artists. Here was a woman -- a young woman, but a grown woman -- doing exactly what she was created to do. It could only have helped to have had some living under her belt before hitting the recording studio. She had had time to acquire a life outside of the rigors and imbalances of the music industry.

The last reason that occurred to me is that Carolyn never reached an insane level of fame. I saw her and Mark listed in the phone book when I was in British Columbia on my honeymoon in 1999. That was after she had released three albums and been around the continent on tour. It is difficult to understand, sometimes, why the best and the brightest are not usually the most feted and financially rewarded, but, really, it is often by the grace of God that they are not. While, as a fan, I want to see Carolyn get all of the proper recognition that she deserves for the amazing body of work she's produced, it is God's higher wisdom that keeps her where He needs her to be. She has stability, security and support surrounding her as she writes. She does not have to take up precious creative energy fearing for her safety or her family's safety. She can shop without being hassled at the local grocery store. These can only be conducive to a sense of community and rootedness that very, very few modern celebrities can relate to, with alien cameras flashing constantly and a restful haven nowhere to be found.

What a blessing to be able to enjoy unreservedly the lyrics, music, and person of Carolyn Arends! Though I sometimes find myself wishing she had the fame to fill Key Arena and the wealth to buy her own island, I'm so grateful that the Lord has kept her sane, balanced, focused, and oh so productive. She is about her Father's business, and that sure beats the hell out of being about the world's business, especially the business of celebrity.

Simply Reaching

One of everyone's favorite Carolyn Arends songs has to be "Reaching". I've been thinking about the lyrics lately; the've been swirling around in my head, along with "I'm Not That Girl" from Wicked, Steely Dan's "Deacon Blues" and my own rewrite of that song, "Deacon's Redemption".

But I'm not sure why - why those lyrics?

Maybe it's because I'm 51, heading into the next phase of life now that my youngest son is away at school. That phase, of course, is when all of your children have moved out on their own. You might not be there yet, but I am. The kids are in southern Illinois, Michigan, western Illinois and, next week, Prague.

You see, I've reached the future, and I think I'm beginning to reach for the past. Everyone says that your kids will grow faster than you can imagine, and that you need to enjoy them while they're young. But no matter who tells you what, life happens, and you get busy, and they've grown. And out on their own.

Maybe one of the things that is bothering me most is that I haven't always had the "right words to say". The words have often stayed "out of reach". Not that I wanted to be more of a friend to my kids than a father. No, a father needs to be a father first, with all of the things that implies - work hard, provide for your family, give the kids a good education, take them to church, encourage them to participate in music, drama, and the arts, love them out loud and love their mother.

I understand that there's more than one "quiet ache" - not only is there the yearning for the Divine, there's a yearning for a bit of quiet time to simply sit and reflect on what's happened and what is happening in your life, both with regard to yourself and your loved ones. That doesn't come often, and is almost certainly followed by a yearning for the way things might have been. As Elphaba (the green witch in Wicked) sings it, "Every so often we long to steal to the land of what might have been, but that doesn't soften the ache we feel when reality sets back in."

I take comfort in my faith in God. I know that whatever happens in this life, I'll be together with my loved ones in the next. And, believe me, I'm in no hurry to get there. There's so much left to do, in terms of work and living and writing and giving praise to God through music. And when I concentrate on those things, when I simply live life, the ache isn't as noticable, though it's still there.

There's no doubt I'll keep reflecting on those lyrics. They're floating around in there for some reason. And I'll love my family out loud, because that's the thing to do. And I suppose I'll have questions, and aches, until I see the face of God. As the "redeemed Deacon" says:

I learned to love the Lord and pray
Think about Him every day
Drink His word in, like a song
It's He who makes me strong

Strong in thought, strong in Word, strong indeed . . .

Carolyn and Sadie: Kicking It Barnabas Style

Okay, so I've been a very bad blogging fan of late, and I'm sorry (or, in Canada, "sorey").
(And "sorey" about the spacing between some of the paragraphs, too. I can't get this to work correctly, and I'm fed up with it.)

I owe at least a mini-post on the Barnabas Experience 2007.

Camp this year was amazing as always, though, surprisingly, less Carolyn-oriented than in the past. This is due to our now visiting Barnabas (on Keats Island, BC) as seasoned campers and not so much as odd groupies (at least I am hoping that that is the vibe we're giving off). Carolyn and Mark make a fantastic team, and I hope that they continue this partnership for many years as Barnabas presenters. They're very funny and engaging together, and Jason and I both learned a lot from what they had to say. We shall ponder these things in our hearts.

Carolyn said that she has been so busy lately that she's only written one song this year (weeping and gnashing of teeth from the fan base ensues *now*), but WOW what a song! She sang it at camp, and I cried. I cry at a lot of Carolyn's songs, no matter how many times I've heard them or sung along to them. I'm only sharing this with you, because we are all so closely knit here. I hope this new song comes out as a download soon, if Carolyn has no albums currently in the works. It's one that has stuck with me, though I know I'm remembering it incorrectly. I want to learn it by heart.

The most disconcerting thing at camp was that Carolyn took me to school for what I wrote a while back on this blog about "Just Pretending." I haven't a clue as to how she discovered this site (it's after page ten on a Google search, I well know), and I was rather sad that she did. Not because I'm ashamed of this blog, nor do I regret writing out a disagreement with her lyrics or sentiment, but, rather, just because I wanted a place where I and other fans would always feel free really to talk about her creative work without the shadow of Rose or Carolyn hanging over the discussion. I think Carolyn's music is so important and so relevant that it can be looked at from any kind of angle and its merit will hold.

Anyway, Carolyn thinks I missed the point of "Just Pretending." I'm not so sure. I think I understand the first layer of message that she was conveying; but I was simply, in my critique, unearthing some other layers that she may or may not have intended. Of course, this is the problem and power of art -- the piece offered by the artist in one light may be heard by the listener (seen by the viewer, interpreted by the reader, etc.) in an entirely different voltage. That's one of the most frustrating parts of taking college English courses -- if you get something out of a novel that your teacher does not see, or you fail to see something your prof finds obvious, well, red marks are made, marginalia is written, and office hours are spent in fruitless argument.

Now, until something better comes up, I am going to be teased without mercy about my supposed dislike of "Just Pretending." I think I'll go tip over a canoe.

I was fortunate to have more in-depth conversations with Spencer Capier and his wife, Kikine (who does fascinating work with cancer drug research), and we shared a Parents' Dinner table with Carolyn and Mark, so I got to hear about the trip to Japan. But, really, there is not much more to tell than that.

It really is an edifying experience that is so different from a concert (though there was one of those at the end of the week) to spend an extended time with the Arendses and other thoughtful, prayerful, scholarly, genuine Christian men and women. Rob and Kathy Bentall who founded and maintain this wonderful ministry on so very many footsteps of faith astound and humble me. Barnabas is a blessing.

I got these nice pics of Carolyn and Sadie at camp. Enjoy!

Yep, that's Mark "Von Dutch" Arends in the background working the security detail for Canada's favourite rock star.

Moments caught like old hair styles

The Gospel Music Channel was recently added to my cable lineup. Every Tueday night, the channel has a show, The Best of the Doves which I watch (or dvr for later). It's fun to get a blast from the past- the music, the clothes, the hair. With each show I wonder if Carolyn might be included.So tonight, I was watching the show I recorded on 6/5 and Steven Curtis Chapman introduced a segment with these words.."...in the early years the genre was dominated by solo acts, many of whom paved the way for many of today's Christian acts..." Cut to clips of Russ Taft, Twila Paris, Charlie Peacock, Cindy Morgan, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and, wait for it.....from 1996...CAROLYN ARENDS with Spencer right next to her.

SWEET!!!!!

And speaking of old hair styles.....

Ask and Ye Shall Receive!

Author, Carolyn fan, and all-around nice fellow, Brendt Waters, has posted on his blog the lengthy interview he did with Carolyn Arends in 1995.

Read and enjoy and leave him nice comments!

P.S. Ya gotta love a guy who gets his blog up and running before his bread-and-butter website.

Love Thy Neighbor: A Story from Barnabas

I had originally written this for the website 43 People, but, as it is one of my favorite Carolyn stories and I now have this wee blog, I decided to "reprint" it here. Enjoy!


One of my favorite stories about Carolyn Arends is one that she related in 2005 at Barnabas Family Ministries on Keats Island, BC. The theme of that week’s retreat was “What Love Looks Like.” That also happens to be the title of one of her best songs.

Anyway, Carolyn was talking about the neighborhood where she lived (at the time). She and her husband had carefully picked this particular cul-de-sac because it was filled with young families and offered the chance for their children to grow up with the same group of playmates in a safe environment. They bought this house, and, one-by-one, the other families started to sell their houses and move away (presumably this was not because of the Arendses). In the place of the young families, people started moving in with, shall we say, less desirable occupations and household structures. To wit, what Carolyn fancifully and ruefully described as “horticulturalists” moved in next door, and the potted plants they were growing sure weren’t begonias.

Well, as these things happen, there was a police raid and their neighbor was taken to jail. Carolyn and her husband were furious with this particular man, since he was contributing to making their carefully chosen neighborhood unsafe and horrible for their children.

Then, when the neighbor was released, Carolyn saw him outside the next day, weeding (no pun meant here) the common mailbox block in the middle of their cul-de-sac. Every time one of the residents would approach to get his mail, the neighbor would apologize for his misdeeds while crying. Carolyn, though still angry, suddenly saw the hopelessness and despondency of this man—his humanness and frailty—and realized with a sigh that “this is my neighbor.”

This story really has stayed with me. Sometimes it’s easier to be a Good Samaritan and love the helpless, bleeding man on the side of the road than it is to want to reach out to someone who is actively and perceptively making your life a harder, more scary and uncertain place. But, to whom are you a neighbor? Surely, while being a neighbor to the stranger in distress is important, being a neighbor to those who have been placed in your life on a more consistent basis is even more important (and much more difficult). Anyway, it was a great illustration of a tough precept and one of the first that comes to mind when asked to share a story about my favorite singer/songwriter, Carolyn Arends.

How's the Sound Out There?

Well, this guy, Brendt, whose unusually-spelled name makes it seem vaguely familiar to my eyes, has posted an interesting little essay about the first interview he ever did -- for a now-defunct on-line Christian music magazine. Guess who his first interviewee was?

Since I'm posting this information here, you've probably guessed by now.

Okay, enough of the suspense -- it was Carolyn! Right before the release of her first album (all together now: I Can Hear You) and her first tour (with -- let's proclaim in unison -- Rich Mullins and Ashley Cleveland) he got to interview her for three hours.

I'd like to find that interview someday. Of course, I'd also like to know what the missing six verses of "Seize the Day" sounded like, too.

Ah well, go to the link and give it a read. Enjoy!