Category Music
The Greatest Night
I dismissed the title out of hand. “Be a part of the greatest night in Christian music history.” Right. I didn’t even bother to open the email. I figured they were going to try and sell me a cruise or something like that. Which meant I almost missed the big event this past Wednesday. There […]
A Pioneer Passes On
I bought my first Andrae Crouch album sound unheard. I knew his name, that he and his band The Disciples were supposed to be really good, but there was no way to hear the music beforehand. My local record store didn’t stock such music; radio certainly didn’t play it. I had to get it by […]
Tinkling The Ivories
I learned to play piano as a child, though using the word “learned” might be stretching things. I wasn’t willing to practice – probably because I didn’t like the music I was being asked to learn. As an adult I understand the importance of the musical tradition, but back then I might have been a […]
Messiah
For some reason a piece of what should rightly be considered Easter music has become an annual Christmas tradition around the world. For many people the season would not seem right without taking in a performance of Handel’s Messiah. I think we have four recordings of G.F. Handel’s most famous oratorio on compact disc. We […]
The Christmas Pageant
It was the three-year-olds on stage that impressed me. Not with their cuteness, though that seemed to be what most adults were focusing on. It was their poise. I didn’t pay much attention to the song, “Away in a Manger,” I think. They weren’t singing; that was the older children’s job (further back on the […]
A Canadian National Treasure
The once rich baritone voice is a little thinner now as time has taken its toll. Some of the notes have gone wherever it is notes go when you age. The memory is no longer perfect, which means sometimes the lyrics aren’t quite right. But it is still the same voice and these are still […]
Steve Bell’s Pilgrimage – III
“We tried to get him music lessons and it just didn’t work” – Alf Bell, father of Canadian musician Steve Bell; from the documentary film Burning Ember: The Steve Bell Journey. How would you feel if video cameras followed you around for a year recording your life story? What would they show? Would you be […]
Steve Bell’s Pilgrimage II
How do you encapsulate a 25 year career? How do you celebrate a quarter of a century in music? In Steve Bell’s case it was a surprise gift, a CD of his songs recorded by some of his musical friends. He liked the gift so much he included it in his latest album, Pilgrimage, a […]
Steve Bell’s Pilgrimage I
Twenty-five years ago the word download had nothing to do with music. You heard it occasionally when a senior level of government decided to dump some responsibilities onto a lower level. They could them claim to have cut costs, though the same taxpayers were still on the hook for whatever the service was, they were […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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