So Gospelized has been a great success so far in my book: I enjoy doing the work immensely, and people are responding critically and with congratulations. I can not ask for much more out of a project.
Peter C. Myers and I are starting up serious work on our fantasy novel. I am incredibly excited about this; Peter C. Myers’ thoughtful friendship and joie de vivre are encouragements to my soul.
Independent Clauses needs some new writers; it has come down to solely me. While I’m okay with this, the growing stack of music on my desk is not.
I’ve put The Greater Clothes Exchange of the Universe and The Last Unicorns on Earth on hold right now. I am focused on Gospelized and the fantasy novel (which I will soon unveil the title for, as soon as we have a working one!).
I’ve been reading a great deal of literature about Christian art, as well as Christian art itself. I have Dick Staub‘s The Culturally Savvy Christian sitting next to me, as I’m half-finished with it. I recently purchased beautiful hardcover editions of Paradise Lost, The Poems of John Donne and The Confessions of St. Augustine; I have started in on the Donne so far. At the same incredible book sale, I purchased a softcover volume that includes all of the Chronicles of Narnia (side note: I almost wrote the Chronic WHAT cles of Nar-nia).
This weekend I hung out with Brent Baldwin, who was co-songwriter with me in Tragic Landscape (second side note: the current band picture at that site is one of about four on the internet that feature me without facial hair). We got together because we, along with members PC Hance III and Kyle Smith, recently decided to record Tragic Landscape’s last, lost album HeIsTheSuperFool over the next few months. As we will be in two separate towns, it could be a slow process. We’re okay with that. It’s been in the queue for four years already.
We also wrote a few songs for a possible future project tentatively titled Broken Keys that we plan to conduct primarily over long-distance, a la The Postal Service. Think soft-rock and reggae meshed together. Totally kidding. It will sound nothing like that. Honest.
Also, I’ve been recently pretty obsessed with Lost and Found by the Fools. Its beautiful melodies and gentle songwriting have captured the essence of this slowly-arriving summer for me.
Wrapping up this absurdly long project update, I’ll leave you with the realization that we are in the sports doldrums. As a Mets fan, I can’t even get excited about baseball until late August or September, because that’s when the Mets will either crash and burn or barely eek into the playoffs. No matter how awesome they’re doing, they’ll find a way to mess it up. And there’s no other sports to watch, save NASCAR, but there’s a whole post on whether or not that’s even a sport. Same for golf. Less than 180 days to college football season!