IVP - Strangely Dim - August 2005 Archives

Chicago on Shuffle

by David A. Zimmerman

Chicago radio stations across the spectrum have been scared silly lately by iPods, Podcasts and file-sharing. All of a sudden, it seems, you can hear any song you can think of on any station you have or have not assigned a preset to.

Two new stations have asserted themselves. Jack FM (“Playing what we want”) has taken the place of Oldies 104.3, so that ironically now the station that plays 50s and 60s music is exclusively online, while the station that plays every CD single you’ve ever frantically shoved under your bed before your music snob friends arrived for dinner is right there on your car stereo. Meanwhile Nine FM (“We play anything—anywhere”) is making a play for the big time with a similarly eclectic mix.

These stations are radio's response to the phenomenon of the iPod shuffle, wherein any song in your library might be next in the queue. Radio becomes like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to get.

More fixed-format stations are making their own claims in this new broadcast era. My favorite, WXRT, is changing the ending to well-known movie quotes to get across the idea of mixing things up—like they always have: “Go ahead, make . . . me a peanut-butter sandwich.” Q-101 (“Everything alternative—now on shuffle”) is probably the most bald-faced iPod poseur, but hey, everybody’s doing it.

I would be remiss if I didn’t note that Chicago was shuffling while iPods were still a glimmer in their inventor’s eye. In 1985 the Chicago Bears kicked it old-school with a song and video to celebrate their trip to the Super Bowl: “We’re so bad, we know we’re good. Blowin’ your mind like you knew we would.” For the record, I have yet to hear Chicago radio stations include the “Super Bowl Shuffle” in their mix.

My most surreal moment in the new paradigm came as Def Leppard’s “Rock of Ages” was followed immediately by Barry White’s “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything.” Now, only the quirkiest among us would be able to draw lines directly from one to the other, and only by sheer act of the will could we declare both those songs as cool, but under a shuffle worldview what makes a radio station cool is not the songs themselves but the act of playing them so randomly.

Out of context you might think I was sitting in church, of course. The quickest connection I could draw was that both songs drew on religious language—“Rock of Ages” is a hymn, and “first and last” evokes the sovereignty of God. But Barry White was singing to his lover of the moment, not to a divinity, which makes his song technically idolatrous. Def Leppard actually was leading its audience in a hymn of sorts, if you look at the lyrics, championing the divinity of rock ’n’ roll as only an 80s hair band could. Idolatry on shuffle—now I’ve heard everything.

I stuck with the station to see what they’d do next and was relieved to hear a song of slightly more contemporary relevance, with a slightly more theologically sound worldview: “Beautiful Day” by U2. Bono wrote the song as a meditation on the biblical book of Job, I’m told, and his lyrics include a poignant line about the promised end of suffering: “After the flood all the colors came out—it was a beautiful day.”

The nice thing about a cult of perpetual shuffle is that faith, hope and love are unavoidably in the mix, so after Barry White’s girlfriend gives him an STD or Def Leppard’s gods of rock turn a deaf ear to their prayers for their new box set, we can trust that these three remain. Till then, on behalf of all radio listeners I implore all you DJs: Shuffle with Care.

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I think it's pretty funny that Strangely Dim has been hit with a lot of spam comments lately, most of them landing on my earlier post "Spam of the Year." Everyone wants to be noticed, I guess.

And Now, a Word from Our Klingon Friends

I thought I was done posting for the day, but I am compelled to share this blog if for no one else, then for my dad. Passages from the Klingon Bible with commentary from somebody apparently well-versed in Klingon and biblical Hebrew. He or she offers a podcast as well, and there are plenty of Klingon-language links if you like that sort of thing. File under "I thought I'd seen everything."

http://klingonword.blogspot.com/

Putting Words in Jesus' Mouth

A friend of mine passed me a link I wanted to pass on to you. Some church somewhere found some films about Jesus and overdubbed the dialogue with some of the common misconceptions about how God relates to us. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll laugh . . . Link and instructions follow.

Go to

www.vintage21.com

and then it's tricky because the videos are pretty deep into the site

first "enter site"
then click on the video projector toward top left of screen
click on "videos"
go to page 2
"downloadable versions available here"

Confessions of a Former Catholic

I was at a conference not too long ago that offered the practice of morning lauds, a time of communal worship being sponsored by a Dominican brother. I took part every chance I had, but I found myself coming out of each morning with a severe case of former-Catholic guilt.

This guilt, I hasten to add, was in no way being foisted on me by Brother Dominic (that’s what his nametag said, I swear). I came up with my guilt all on my own, thank you very much. I was raised Roman Catholic, and so for about half of my life I experienced the mass weekly, with its responsive and collective readings, its sung prayers and psalms, its scents and sacraments. And now here I was, sitting across from a Dominican brother all tricked out in a tunic and well on his way to being ordained into the priesthood, and I was recalling all the celebrations of faith I left behind upon my conversion to evangelical Protestantism. I sang and chanted and fumbled my way through the long-forgotten sign of the cross, and I found myself feeling guilty.

Not guilty enough to return to Catholicism, I hasten to add. That would be an artificial solution to my angst, I think. No, that day during morning lauds I was simply confronted with my past, all those aspects of worship and prayer that are no longer a part of my regular experience, those attributes of the faith of my youth that have not found their way into the religious practices of my adulthood.

I’m reminded of Abraham, back in the day when he was still known as simply Abram. God called upon Abram to leave all that he knew, all that he loved, to go someplace unknown to him. God would show him where he was going when he got there. And despite the fact that where Abram was going would be where God wanted him, it’s hard to leave what you’ve known, the environment and culture that was cultivated in good faith to build in you a love and adoration for the God of the universe. I imagine Abram, who was not yet even Abraham, feeling a mixture of sadness, anxiety, anticipation, disorientation and, yes, even guilt.

I imagine Abram feeling all these things because I’ve felt them myself on the long and cloudy path toward adulthood. But I’m reassured that even in those moments when my pangs of guilt make their presence explicit, they are mitigated by the smoldering anticipation and, yes, even confidence that I’m headed toward the place prepared for me, an adventure I would otherwise have missed.

So many songs, such a little coupon

Congratulations to me! Simply for spending a boatload of cash on groceries, I've earned five song downloads (that's like a free $5 bill, people!). Now I just need to decide which five songs to download. I'm open to suggestions, so start posting now.

Thanks,
Dave

Back from the Wack

I'm back from the Wizard World: Chicago comic book convention. I've written a report on my experience for Infuze magazine, but I'll give you some quick highlights here.

1. People at a comic book convention much prefer books with pictures to books without pictures. You'd think there was no such thing in the world as a book of straight prose, based on the curious looks I got from people when they started flipping through our books on offer.

2. InterVarsity casts a longer shadow than I would have thought. A LOT of people came by saying either "What's InterVarsity doing here?" or "Glad to see InterVarsity here!" Usually no matter where I go, the more common comment is "What's University Press?" Further evidence that comic book readers are more literate than anybody else in the world.

3. If you're going to be stuck at a table for four days, make friends with the people stuck by you. I don't care how introverted you are, by hour eighteen you will WANT to talk with someone--even the guy in face paint and latex pants. Fortunately my friends Al, Carey and Mark Smith from IVP came to hang out with me at different points during the convention, and I reconnected with some folks I met last year, and I made some new friends in the comic book industry.

This weekend is the Fest for Beatle Fans, which will bring me in contact with a whole different set of obsessed fans. Till next time, then, enjoy your obsessions; I'll be sure to enjoy mine.

Get Your Geek On

I'm off to the Wizard World Chicago comic book convention, where I will be serving as chaplain. God help us all. In case you can't quite imagine such an event, here's a picture of the San Diego incarnation.