04/21/10

The Rise & Fall of Five Iron Frenzy DVD Review

Back in 2003 the Christian band Five Iron Frenzy called it a day…played their last gig at Filmore (USA) and the 9 piece band separated…I was 17 and had never heard of the band. It wasn’t until I was introduced to them by Ben & Hayley individually in 2004 that I eventually purchased their EP ‘Quantity is job 1′ off amazon.

In the years following that I’ve managed to add all their albums except Cheeses (of Nazareth) and Upbeats and Beatdowns to my collection and have grown to adore their mix of ska-punk comprised with both fun and profound lyrics.

Earlier this year the ex-lead singer of the band Reese Roper finally announced that the long-awaited Five Iron Frenzy DVD would be released on the 13th April and that pre-orders would get it shipped a month early…I pre-ordered early March and anticipated the arrival of my DVD from the States.

A few weeks back the DVD arrived and I’ve almost finished watching it minus a few extras and wow…what a DVD!

The DVD is in fact 2 DVD’s….the first being the 3 hour documentary ‘The Rise & Fall of Five Iron Frenzy’ and the second labeled ‘This is a coaster’ is actually a disc of extras including the video of the live album ‘The end is here’ (the band’s last gig)..I’ll come back to the extras in a minute!

The Rise & Fall of Five Iron Frenzy

The 3 hour documentary covers the 9 years of the band and is mixed with interviews, live clips and goofy home movies the band put together and gives you a real insight to the passions, struggles and lives of the band members, their journey with God during the 9 years of Five Iron Frenzy and how the band really took off yet struggled with being in the middle of the Christian and secular genre.

The documentary is well put together and is very much a visual timeline…Reese Roper who did much of the editing hasn’t made the journey look like a nice a fluffy ride with God but has documented the struggles too which makes it a really genuine piece of documentary.

The Extras

Whilst the documentary is amazing the extras are something else completely.

Packed onto the 2nd disc are 5 music videos, 3 lives concerts, a few random clips and a whole host of short movies!

I’m not going to to review all of the extras but just the Filmore Gig Video.

Filmore was the last show the band ever played and so to have it on DVD is something very special. The video includes all the stuff that was cut from the live CD and there’s real emotion in the gig from the whole band. The real highlight was the 5 minute introduction Reese gives to Every New Day which was so powerful to watch.

and summing up…

To sum up the Five Iron Frenzy DVD is amazing and was well worth the $20 I spent on it however it is for the hardcore fans…if you just think ‘they’re alright’ then it’s probably not for you…borrow someone’s and watch the live Filmore gig!

I finish this post with the live video for ‘Every new day’

04/4/10

Day 47: Easter Sunday!

So here we are…47 Days after the beginning of lent and we celebrate that Jesus has risen from the tomb, we can go back to the things we did before lent (good news for those chocolate lovers perhaps!) and I can go back to not constantly thinking ‘what shall I blog next?’.

I’ve got a few days off work now and I shall also be taking a few days off blogging but I shall return either at the end of the week or next week without starting a post with ‘day xx in the blogging house’.

In the mean time I want to finish with this scene from the passion of the Christ which I think sums up Easter Sunday perfectly

04/3/10

Day 46: Easter Saturday

Having been out last night, got in at half 2, watched the new Ashes to Ashes on iPlayer and then slept I didn’t awake until half 11 this morning…I crawled out of bed, went to the gym and now I’m sat at home typing this before heading out to Beverley for a couple of hours.

Why the boring life update above?

Well…today is just a normal day! The shops are open the usual hours, the gym is open as usual, I’m doing my usual day off mix of Facebook, blogging, gym, and heading out to nice little places like Beverley and probably chilling in front of the TV but yesterday was Good Friday and tomorrow is Easter Sunday…two of the biggest events in the Christian calendar yet sandwiched between those two days lies Easter Saturday…a day that is just a normal day.

In his book ‘God on Mute’ Pete Greig briefly explores the idea of Easter Saturday and since reading the book a couple of years ago Easter Saturday has really intrigued me.

Let’s imagine the disciples…they’ve spent the last 3 years following this revolutionary rabbi (Jesus) who’s managed to turn faith as they know it upside down, He’s challenged the pharisees (leaders at the time) on pretty much everything they try and teach the people. A week ago the disciples witnessed Jesus riding in on a donkey with people praising God for Him.

Then 4 days later they share the passover meal together, Jesus calls them friends, Jesus washes their feet…they go out to pray…Jesus is looking troubled…Judas is no-where to be seen…suddenly less than a week after being praised by the people He is arrested…beaten within an inch of His life….chosen to be crucified over a murderer by His own people…nailed onto a cross and left to die.

The disciples had heard Jesus talk about dying but they never quite got it

They probably didn’t even catch on that He’d be alive again in a couple of days

So I wonder what the disciples did on Easter Saturday?

We don’t know but they’d just had the floor taken from under their feet, the man they’d followed, loved and learned from the last 3 years was dead…they were probably wanted men themselves just for following Jesus.

Perhaps they spent time together praying…maybe they shared communion….maybe they just didn’t know what to do

So as you spend a normal Saturday think about Easter Saturday and ponder!

03/31/10

Day 43: Jesus’ Anger

Sunday night’s youth group was themed around anger and the small group study turned out to be quite interesting. As Christians we tend to take 2 routes with anger. Firstly we take the ‘anger is wrong‘ approach and draw a line…then comes approach 2 in response to ‘didn’t Jesus get angry?‘ which comes in the form of the response ‘yes but it was righteous anger’.

The phrase ‘righteous anger‘ seems to be a suitably ambiguous phrase used to say ‘ummm…yes Jesus got angry…let’s move on‘. However it’s quite interesting to make the distinction between anger and righteous anger. From my understanding there is ‘righteous anger’ and ‘uncontrolled anger’.

Uncontrolled anger is the image of anger we probably imagine the most and probably the most common type of anger…uncontrolled anger is the anger where you lash out, where someone is attacked, where you say things you don’t mean…the sort of anger that you feel embarrassed about after (and possibly become so ashamed about you don’t even apologise for).

Righteous anger on the other hand is a whole different kettle of fish. The most common example that we use is that of Matthew 21 where Jesus enters the temple and turns the tables of the people selling things. This example is all well and good but neither Matthew, Mark or Luke where it appears mention that Jesus was angry.

The second example however does! In Mark 3 we read:

Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

it’s obvious from his actions here that the anger of Jesus was that of controlled anger…He was angry about their hardened hearts and angry that they just didn’t get it.

The real point of this blog post though was to pose the question do we get angry enough?

I don’t mean angry in the shouting, hitting people sense but in the sense of do we get angry about the things we should? Are we angry enough about injustice? Are angry about those who’s hearts are hardened?

Even typing those two questions above I feel a little uncomfortable because anger is such a misunderstood emotion. The Oxford dictionary describes it as ‘a strong feelings of annoyance, displeasure or hostility’ and so I wonder if the anger Jesus talks about is closer to being a passionate dissatisfaction? Surely the emotions of passion and anger are similar? I know when I’m passionate about something I talk enthusiastically and also if I’m angry about something I equally talk enthusiastically.

So is ‘passionate dissatisfaction‘ a better description for righteous anger? It’s possibly a better description of the way we feel when things aren’t the way God wants them.

This blog is very much a series of thoughts, reflections and ponderings so please feel free to challenge it, comment, disagree or whatever you desire!

03/29/10

Day 41: Can’t we just have RATM again?

A campaign has sprung up in the last month aiming to get the Delirious? song ‘History Maker’ to number 1 for Easter…the Facebook group (here) has almost 50,000 members (which I’m not sure is enough for a number 1) and is encouraging people to download 1 of 2 versions of the Delirious? song.

Alongside this the campaign organiser has set up a website called ‘Invade the Airwaves’ just in case you’re confused about what the campaign is about…it also has a ‘in the press’ section detailing 2 local BBC stations who’ve featured the campaign and a host of Christian sites talking about it…not quite the media storm that the Christmas Rage Against the Machine project got.

On the website they even have an ‘FAQ’ for those people confused by the entire concept (I’m sure it’s simple!) and as part of this there is the following statement:

Two things really. Firstly, the evident power of social media (namely Facebook) to bring about such a powerful campaign with outstanding results that Rage Against The Machine delivered at Christmas 2009. Secondly, a huge personal dissatisfaction that such an angry song featuring the ‘F’ word at the end several times, was the talk of the nation at a time when the focal point of the Christmas period should be peace

Now whilst the author is right that Christmas should be about peace he has clearly not realised what the RATM song was about. Killing in the name was written about the racist policemen in the area where the band were based, it isn’t an anthem for violence but one for justice, it’s an anti-war song and anti-hypocrisy and whilst screaming ‘F*** you I won’t do what you tell me’ wouldn’t be my personal approach I find that the message in the song represents a lot of the things Jesus stood for.

I’ve been invited to the campaign to get Delirious? to number 1 twice and both times I’ve clicked ‘Reject’ (I am attending a Nestle free Easter though!) and the reason for this is simply it’s not a good idea…Christian music is generally so awful it’s better off kept off the airwaves….alongside this I don’t believe for 5 seconds Jesus would remotely care about it, He never aimed for popularity…in fact he managed to hack off his own people so much they wanted him crucified.

So Delirious? for Easter number 1? I hope not…let’s have the new Scouting for Girls song instead!

03/28/10

Day 40: Palm Sunday

All over the world today is Palm Sunday and thousands of Christians everywhere will have received a Palm Cross and read Luke 19 where we read about Jesus instructing His disciples to go off and find a donkey and bring it back followed by Jesus riding on this donkey with people all around praising him (other than the Pharisees who as per normal weren’t happy!).

Whilst I understand that this happened to fulfill the prophesies it’s a very weird passage when put in the context of Jesus’ ministry coming to the end and even stranger to think that by the end of the week He would be crucified and His body placed in a tomb.

The reason this seems so odd is that Palm Sunday in a nutshell looks like a celebration, there’s praising and cheering and a general celebration feel about it yet Jesus must have known His time was coming to an end and so when we also have that knowledge it doesn’t feel like much to celebrate…it must be like celebrating someone’s birthday knowing they have a terminal illness…yes it’s a celebration but you have something looming over you.

Palm Sunday does however feel like a bit of a stopping point…a bit of a landmark representing the end of Jesus ministry as God incarnate and the beginning of the end….perhaps in the words of Five Iron Frenzy we should say ‘the end is near’ in reference to Palm Sunday.

03/26/10

Day 38: In Context

As I mentioned on Wednesday yesterday I attended a day of lectures being run by Youth, Mission and Culture in Leeds on the subject of Gender. It was great to have the opportunity to spend sometime thinking in depth about a subject without it being linked to a course, essay or just being stuff that I know because I’ve done a degree in youth work.

The day was split into 3 parts with 3 lecturers (well….4 really!). The first part took a look at gender from a scientific point of view including the social sciences and biology. The 2nd looked at the theological side of things and the third looked at how we work with young people and different genders.

The part of the day I found the most interesting was the theological lecture. It was lead by Elaine Storkey of Tearfund and was very interesting. I always find that theology is fascinating yet I don’t have the patience or desire to look at it massively in depth on a regular basis so a one off theology lecture was perfect.

The primarily focus was looking at the gender roles we see in the bible and especially on what the bible says about women. With women in ministry being a big issue for some Christians (I believe we call them sexists!!!) it was very interesting to look at the key verses from Paul that they use as their argument against women in ministry. For example the passage where Paul tells women that they can’t speak in church put in context is there because the women in this church were disturbing their husbands worshiping with pointless gossip and comments such as ‘Did you put the cat out?’ (in 21st century terms!).

Alongside this looking at the attitude of Jesus towards women re-affirmed to me that a lot of this women in ministry stuff is nonsense but more importantly it reminded me how important it is to look at things in context. It’s so easy to take the bible out of proportion and get the wrong end of the Jesus-stick!

All in all a very good day and I’m looking forward to another one cropping up next year!

03/24/10

Day 36: Gender Day

Tomorrow I’m heading up to Leeds for a day of lectures from Youth, Culture and Mission all themed on gender and youth work. It’ll be my first ‘lectures’ since leaving uni last May and I’m actually looking forward to it. I think it’ll be a really interesting opportunity to find out more about gender as a topic especially as there seems to be more and more gender issues amongst young people now.

Anyone else reading this going?

On a complete side-note being at blog number 36 with a week until Easter proves that if you include the Sundays there are more than 40 days in lent…I’m looking forward to not blogging every day actually…quality not quantity eh?

03/22/10

Day 34: Charity Shops!

On Friday I headed into Beverley to get a few bits…Beverley is about the same distance from me as Hull and much more relaxing to wander around and smaller. Whilst there I past a small bookshop called ‘Jacobs Well’ which is a charity bookshop with a small Christian bookshop attached to it.

Whilst the Christian section was a bit naff the rest of the shop was amazing…containing hundreds of books with a nice ‘booky’ aroma about the place I spent quite some time browsing and was especially impressed with the CD’s which seemed to consist of all the singles I owned as a child and their shelf upon shelf of Christian books.

I left the shop having spent £5 on a CD single of ‘You only get what you give’ (New Radicals), a beasty New Bible Commentary Revised and individual commentaries on Revelation (part 1), Revelation (part 2), a commentary on the letters to Timothy, Titus and Philemon, a commentary on the letters to James and Peter and a commentary on the letters to John and Jude…plus a book containing 44 John Wesley sermons….absolute bargain shop!

03/18/10

Day 30: Post Secret

Yesterday at Christian Union I used my Post Secret session (you can find it on my youth work website www.youthworkresource.com) which I wrote a couple of years ago. This session always seems to work well and be a fairly powerful session for encouraging young people to reflect on God’s love and His knowledge of them…as part of it they have to design a post secret and we share some of them…I thought I’d post a couple of Post Secrets from the website!

03/17/10

Day 29: Contemporary Music in Worship P.2

Yesterday I began exploring the idea of contemporary music as worship. I complimented the song writing skills of Paramore, Five Iron Frenzy and Family Force 5, had a bit of a rant and posted some thoughts on where we’re at with worship in our churches and a lack of passion (does this lack of passion extend beyond our worship?).

So today I’m going to continue those thoughts but hopefully in a way that ponders how we can actually use contemporary music in worship.

Firstly I think we need to remember that worship isn’t always singing and so I see no reason why contemporary songs couldn’t be used as reflections (even screamy reflections…although we may need to display lyrics in such cases).

Secondly I don’t think worship music needs to be written by a Christian! – Surely it’s the lyrics and the place our heart is in as we express, pray, sing or ponder those lyrics to God. Our worship shouldn’t be about the song writer but about the sentiment we’re trying to express to God in doing so.

Thirdly I believe contemporary music may see church growth - Let’s face it, anyone coming into a church for the first time may find church a strange place and more to the point the singing of a lambs blood probably doesn’t help matters. So how would their experience differ if they came in and found songs they knew being used in a different way? Would they feel more at home hearing something familiar?

Finally I think contemporary music could be icing on the emerging church cake! It’s great doing Cafe church, pub church or whatever form of church a place is trying out but if music is going to be used then contemporary music would be more appropriate and fitting. I remember a youth worker telling me he did a series of acoustic songs in a youth cafe all of which were contemporary songs but used in a Christian setting…I even heard one of my lecturers at uni talk about using Last Resort by Papa Roach as a song in church!

I whole-heartily believe there is a place for contemporary music in church and I think if we use it well it could deeply enrich our worship…yes it may isolate different generations…for example a Green Day song may not be as helpful in worship to some as a Beatles song but surely this is no different to our organ/worship band or Redman/Townsend divides we already have?

03/14/10

Day 26: The Original Sin

As I mentioned at the beginning of lent I have been aiming to read a short reflection from a book titled ‘Daily Reflections for Lent and Easter’ and they’ve been varied so far, some interesting some just dull and uninspiring however one back on Tuesday caused me to raise my eye-brows a little bit and ponder.

The writer (Ron Rolheiser) suggested that the story of Adam and Eve taking the apple was a transgression of rape…as I read that sentence originally I re-read it thinking ‘did he just say that?’…and ‘surely that’s just gotta be an attention grabbing line’.

He then goes on to explain that by rape he meant that Adam and Eve took by force what can only be received in love.

I find his analogy very interesting because much as I don’t like the his analogy of rape I can’t help but feel there’s some truth in it and that this truth is probably the reason I don’t like it.

If we work with the definition Rolheiser suggests for rape which is ‘to take by force something that can only be received in love’ then perhaps there is some truth in it. If we take the things God offers us freely in love by force then to widen the analogy beyond original sin perhaps that can also count as rape by Rolheiser’s definition.

It’s an interesting idea…what are the things we take by force that should be received in love when it comes to God? What does the world take?

Thoughts please!