Only Visiting This Planet - Larry Norman (1947-2008)

Yesterday was a very sad day for Christian Music. After struggling with health issues for more than a decade, Larry Norman died yesterday (February 24) in Salem, Oregon.

For those of you who are of the younger generation, Larry was to Contemporary Christian Music what Elvis was to Rock and Roll. If you asked the average CCM fan today what the first Christian Rock album was, they would not have the slighest idea. However, back in 1968, a young 21 year old created a groundbreaking album called "Upon This Rock" on the Capitol label, which was probably a decade ahead of its time. "Upon This Rock" is often referred to as the "Sgt. Pepper's" of Christian Music.

Most CCM critics and reviewers regard Larry's "Only Visiting This Planet" as the best, or one of the top 3 Christian albums of all time.

I was a huge fan of Larry's in my younger years and saw him in concert 5 times, once driving with some friends to Norman, Oklahoma to the "Boomer Theater" to see him. When I bought his albums via mail order in late high school/early college, Larry's dad would write nice personal notes on the packaging when he sent things to me.

Many people also are not aware that a mini rock opera written by Larry during his days with the band "People!" is credited by many as the inspiration for Pete Townshend's writing of "Tommy". (The Who was on tour with People! and saw their performances night after night in the late 60's).

My personal favorites of Larry's are:

• Nightmare (from So Long Ago the Garden) - [one of the best Christian lyrics ever written]
• Reader's Digest (from Only Visiting This Planet)
• The Great American Novel (from Only Visiting This Planet)
• I Am the Six O'Clock News (from Only Visiting This Planet)
• The Outlaw (from Only Visiting This Planet)
• Forget Your Hexagram (from Upon This Rock)
• I Don't Believe In Miracles (from Upon This Rock)
• Unlucky Blues (from Something New Under the Son)

For those in our youth group, we listened to "In Another Land" while setting up for the Valentine's day banquet a few weeks ago. Kind of ironic, isn't it.

Larry was also eloquent in interviews, magaine articles and in liner notes. I'll close with my favorite sections of Larry's liner notes to "In Another Land"

"today there was no bomb scare . . . just the reality that something exploded long before we knew it, and now we are living in the fallout. all of us are crippled and mutated from the radiation of that moment, but from the outward appearance we look normal, at least to each other. the earth is a dying planet, man a dying race. there are strange things in the sky at night. some people say that it is help from other planets, but i fear that it is evil let loose, vaporizing and streaking across the universe.

funny sad place we've turned this world into, the courts free killers on technicalities, people are starving and we burn and bury food because the economy would fluctuate if we fed them, women seem to be trying to rule the world now that the children have proven themelves incapable of establishing love and world peace; only a few generations ago women started dressing like men and now men are starting to dress like women, the world sems to be crumbling and yet people are eating and drinking and living unnaturally as though there were no right and wrong, as though their lives will never end.

Some people say there is no God, others say that we are all God. sometimes i look out over the city late at night and all the lights look like diamonds and rubies on a black jewelers cloth, all set in straight little rows and sprinkled on the hillsides - and i wonder how we have ever fallen so far. and then i look up in the sky with its far superior jewels; i look up and find myself waiting. and smiling." - Larry Norman, September 1975

Here, there be music . . . . soon . . . . .

Well, we're finally close to finishing our "music room" which we've been working on (or should I say not working on very much) for the last 14 months. Over the weekend, the boys and I got all of the insulation in place.

To those we've mentioned the project to, I've included some pictures, and will offer some explanations as well. This should help some of you who've expressed an interest in doing the same.

The picture above shows the southwest corner of the room. The funny looking insulation is called "Sound Attenuation Fire Blankets". They are made of a wood by-product and have much greater sound dampening characteristics than normal insulation. In addition, as their name implies, they are VERY fire-resistant. They are however, murder to work with. They are very itchy and smell like sheep when you first put them up.

Here is a picture of the stuff, up close and personal:



We placed this stuff on of the inward facing walls between the ceiling joists. You'll also notice some steel strips in the first picture. These are RC (Resiliant Channel). They are tacked on the studs and the drywall is attached to it, and either not attached to the studs at all, or attached only at the points where the Resiliant Channel intersects with the drywall. This reduces contact points where sound can be transferred to the wall. (BTW - the first picture does not have all of hte RC in place).

We also placed R-24 fiberglass insulation below the Fire Attenuation Sound Blankets in the ceiling (going the opposite direction) to provide extra sound insulation. Because the ceiling had to be lowered, we put this right above the new ceiling (which is what you see in the picture). This also creates an acoustic "dead space" between the R-24 layer and the Fire Attenuation Sound Blankets in the ceiling joists.

Our next step is to get the drywallers in to finish the drywalling, then we paint. Our plan is to do at least two of the walls in EVH's "Frankenstrat" design. The other walls may be a Beatles wall or a music/instrument brand logo wall.

We'll keep ya posted and provide pictures when it's all done.

We're on a Mission from God . . . .

Yikes! Has it really been 2 months since our last blog. I gotta free up my schedule . . . .

Anyway, the big news of the last month or so is that Josh & I will be heading to Cambodia sometime near the end of July/beginning of August. Our youth group will be sending a group of students (with adult sponsors - not sure which group I fit in better with . . . ) to a youth camp in Cambodia. The goal is to help teach the kids in the camp to speak English.

The reason for this is not so that they can understand the words of the latest Brittany Spears song, but so that they can get out of poverty. Children who learn English have many more job and educational opportunities, which help to bring them (and their families) out of the cycle of poverty that many are entrenched in. In the process, I'm sure we'll maximize our opportunites to share the gospel.

Tonight I spent some time on Google, trying to find some resouces for learning Khmer (the language spoken in Cambodia). Hopefully, in the next six months, I'll learn to say the really important things like "Where are the Doughnuts" and "Man - that's a cool sitar solo!" - you know, the things you just can't get by without.

That's it for now. Hopefully I won't be so delinquent with my next posts!

(And hopefully John Belushi will forgive my demented sense of humor . . . )

A Different Way to Spend Halloween . . . .

Well, the Howard family (and friends) didn't have a "normal" Halloween this year. Instead, we took the kids and 3 friends to see 3 Christian bands at a church in Omaha. The concert was a fundraiser for the church to send a missions group to Malawi, Africa.

We're not sure if the holiday affected the outcome, but probably 200 or less people were there, so we were able to get right up to the stage. The night started off with a newer band from Kansas City called Starlit Platoon. They had a good sound and were pretty energetic.

Afterwards, a well-known Lincoln band called Remedy Drive played. This is a band made up of four brothers. I talked to one of them afterwards and they were just signed by Word records and plan to release their first CD next August.

Then came the highlight of the night - our boys' favorite band Pillar played. We were right by Noah (the guitar player) all night, and were able to watch him close up. Unfortunately the combination of low light and smoke from the smoke machines caused our concert photos to turn out really bad.


Afterwards, however, all 4 members of Pillar came out and talked with the audience. We spent probably 15 minutes talking with Noah, who showed us a few of his guitars and talked amps and gear. Rob (the singer) had his wife and new baby with him. Very cool.

I've included some photos of Josh & James with Noah.



And I thought MY hair was wild during my college years . . . . !

Don't let the dreadlocks fool you though. Noah was a SUPER nice guy. Very friendly and humble. We all had a great time, but I was ready for a little ear rest afterwards. I must be getting old . . . . . .

Viva Las Vegas . . .

Well, I'd hoped to have a post about a recent trip to see Steve Vai in Chicago, but I'm still waiting for pictures, so that one will be waaay after the fact.

However, I did have a short business trip to Las Vegas this last week for the annual PFACC conference. We stayed at the Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort, about 10 miles outside of Las Vegas. Very pretty place. The picture below is a panoramic shot. You may need to view it at full size to get the full effect.

As can be expected, we spent one night experiencing the strip on Las Vegas. We were let off at the Bellagio. After going inside and seeing the sights, we stepped outside and watched the fountains. The picture below is a little grainy as I didn't want to use a flash, but you should get the effect. As hard as we looked, we couldn't find Danny Ocean or any of his friends.

Looking the other direction, you get an idea of how bright the lights are. This replica of the Eiffel tower was pretty awesome.

After checking out the Flamingo pools and some of the strip, I ventured by myself to the Hard Rock Cafe. I found out after I got there that the street that the Hard Rock is on is not as safe as the strip. Needless to say, I took a cab back to the Bellagio.

Come Sail Away . . .

When you think of concerts in Nebraska, Norfolk doesn't usually come to mind. However when our nephew Caleb graduated from college at Norfolk last May, we went to a restaurant that advertised a summer concert series at a local place called Divot's.

Fortunately, we liked a couple of the bands that were appearing on September 2nd, so we headed down for the concert.

The show opened with 38 Special, a southern rock band with a number of 1980's hits.

The men of the family got up close to watch half of 38 Special, then went back for some water and Gatorade and just listened until the headliner.

They were followed by Styx, an "art rock" band whose best known hits spanned the mid 1970's through the 1980's.

This time, mom joined us near the front of the stage. As they started, I caught our first pictures as the sun was still setting. Tommy Shaw was on our side of the stage as they kicked off the concert with "Blue Collar Man". James Young is in the background on the Strat.

As the sun set, the light show was much more fun to watch, however taking clear pictures became a lot more difficult. The band was absolutely fantastic - all the high notes were there for the vocals and guitars were great too! Of course, Josh was impressed by the drummer. If you can see this picture clearly enough, you'll notice that Tommy is playing a clear plastic body guitar (probably a Dan Armstrong). Don't see them too often . . .

The keyboard player even played some Beethoven. Below is one more shot of the band with the light show behind them. I apologize for the graniness, but shooting pictures of fast moving rock starts in dark surroundings is not all that easy . . .

The concert ended with an explosion of confetti. I caught this picture as it began to settle over the audience.

All together, I took about 100 pictures. We had a great time at the concert, and left with our ears ringing a bit. One lady standing by us couldn't believe that our 15 and 13 year old sons knew any of Styx's music. Ironically, the band did a cover of "I am the Walrus" by the Beatles - which the boys also knew and could sing along with.

FYI - I don't think any of us could sing along with any Brittany Spears or Spice Girls songs (and we're proud of it too . . . . )

Catch ya later . . . .

Saying Hello . . .

Well, today was an exciting day in a number of ways. We had a mini family reunion on the Howard side of the family to celebrate Aunt Maxine's 75th birthday. Maxine is my dad's older sister (sorry Maxine - Dad paid me $50.00 to mention the "older" part). As with all of these events - a massive 3 hour picture taking sesssion ensued. It started off with some nice shots of Aunt Maxine with her favorite pipe . . . .

Ooops - wait a second, that was the wrong picture.....

Ah, here we go. Here's a much more flattering picture of Aunt Maxine with my dad and Uncle Bruce (her two kid brothers). Maxine always looks so much more attractive without the pipe and with her hair and makup done up nice.

Hard to believe that the lady in the picture is 75. I personally think there's a typo on the old birth certificate or something. On a side note, my Uncle Bruce (the one on the left) still runs 6-8 miles a day and runs 5K's on a regular basis. I, on the other hand, run to and from my car 3 times a day and eat Special K on a regular basis. Oh well . . . .

The other big highlight of the day was meeting my cousin Valerie for the first time. (Hence the title of post . . . .).

We had a great time talking and getting aquainted. Like her dad, Valerie is an avid runner (she's also competed in the Iron Man competition and lived to tell about it). In spite of my lack of athletic ability, we had plenty to talk about! It was great to finally get to meet her.

Also had a chance to see my other cousins. Although lighting was a bit of a challenge for picture taking, we got a nice group shot (except for cutting out part of Scott's head). Only missing piece was my brother Bill.

Note that I'm the only guy in the front row . . . . some things never change . . . . . . (an old Randy Newman song comes to mind here . . . ) .

All in all a great day. The Fremont Howards had a great time catching up with everyone and helping Maxine celebrate her 75th. Looking forward to doing this again!!

BTW - in case you're wondering, the first picture really isn't Aunt Maxine. It's a recent photo of Keith Richards during the last Rolling Stones tour . . . . . .

;-)