September 3, 2012

“No amount of piety in leisure hours can compensate for slipshod labor on the job. But any honest task, well done, can be turned into a prayer.” —Archbishop Fulton Sheen

In the United States, the first Monday of September is a federal holiday celebrating the contributions and dignity of workers. Nothing gets done without them! But on this day we stretch the weekend out a little longer, wrap up our summers, and have one last barbecue. And here, since its a Monday, I get to throw together some songs celebrating us working stiffs too!

We have good company in this department, because lest we forget, Jesus was a man of work. Unless you are on call, or on duty (military, police, fire, ambulance, doctors and nurses) I hope you can take advantage of this day off and enjoy yourself. Here’s some songs I hope you’ll enjoy too. (more…)

August 27, 2012

For me, anyway. No, I’m not talking about Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, who Don McClean sang about in American Pie. No, I mean the day the music died for me. It was on August 27, 1990, when Stevie Ray Vaughn died in a helicopter crash at the age of 35.  SRV boarded a chopper after a show shorty after midnight for a quick hop to an airport, only the pilot flew into a low hill and  the best guitar player in the world was taken from us.

So I’m remembering Stevie Ray Vaughn, one of my favorites, as long time readers know. (more…)

August 13, 2012

I was just checking the archives and realized it’s been a long time since I shared a music post. Ever since the HHS Mandate naked power grab reared it’s ugly head, my muse has been under a cloaking device. But today, I’m going to break out and share a few tunes that I haven’t heard for a long, long time. I’m curious how many of you remember them too, so sound-off in the combox. They’re all from the Big Eighties, and share a similar theme. (more…)

May 14, 2012

A Porsche eating Ford fumes at Le Mans, FTW.

Every time you go racing, you put your reputation on the line. —Carroll Shelby

I’m still grieving the loss of Carroll Shelby. What I’ve decided to do with this little music post, is celebrate ‘ol Shel’s life a little bit with music. Some of the music you may not be very familiar with, while others will be songs that you consider old friends. You know, Maurice Sendak died and the whole world seemingly stopped with all manner of thoughtful reflections on Where the Wild Things Are. Carroll Shelby had a bigger impact on your life than you may know or realize, but only the gearheads sung his praises. So this post is sort of an homage to him and What the Wild Things Drive. And endurance racing experience is why your cars’ engine can last, with proper care and maintenance, for over 200,000 + miles. (more…)

April 30, 2012

 

Last year around this time for Eastertide, I started exploring Jesus in terms of popular culture through music. There were classical posts, and posts on polyphony, naturally. But there were also posts built around songs about the Lord through pop-rock songs, rhythm & blues, and country tunes as well.

Maybe it is an American phenomenon (though I hope not), but Jesus Christ haunts us. It’s like today he still asks of us, “who do the people say I am?” And then he still asks us individually, “and who do you say I am?” (more…)

April 6, 2012

wouldn’t have been made. Neil doesn’t use Jim Marshall’s amplifiers. They didn’t give him the same sound, the same gravitas, to move folks to acknowledge the truth that he sings about here. (more…)

March 26, 2012

Have you ever asked your mom to pray for you? I have. And one of the truly amazing graces is that as a believer in the Communion of the Saints, I can ask the Mother of our Lord and Savior to pray for me as well. (more…)

November 14, 2011

The other day, during my commute home from work, I heard a catchy tune that mentioned St. Joan of Arc (the patroness of this blog) in the lyrics. I thought to myself, I should put that in the next MfM post. Then a friend posted another song about Joan on her Facebook page yesterday and I got to work in earnest. (more…)

November 7, 2011

Maybe you should buy “The Head In The Heart ‘s” new album…

Back in April, right when we rolled into Eastertide, I started a series of MfM posts on Our Lord’s presence in the music of mainstream culture. I called it, unsurprisingly, Jesus Goes Mainstream, remember?

Today, I’m revisiting the idea with five tunes that take to the four points of the compass, or to the Cross. The set starts off with a flashback to 1976 with David Bowie’s song about prayer and rapidly brings you to the present day and age with the four remaining songs having been recorded since the advent of the New Millenium. (more…)

October 24, 2011

SR-71 Blackbird, “Velocitus Incalculus”

Welcome to the first MfM post since moving here to Patheos. See that hurtling piece of machinery above? That’s what the good ship YIMCatholic looked like this week. She’s a Transformer, see? Usually a wind powered, bluff bowed vessel good for 12-15 knots, but sometimes, she goes ballistic like the bird you see above. We’ll get to the reason why later, but first let’s put that picture to some music, (more…)


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