My parents listened to shellac 78s. They were "records" that turned at 78-rpm and were played by a needle runing through the groove. That was old school.
The incarnation of Elvis coincided with the advent of records made out of vinyl (not brittle shellac) spinning at 33-rpm for LP (long play, five songs and 30 minutes to a side) and 45-rpm for "singles." It was way kewl how the "changer" would drop them onto the turntable one by one.
Something else was more important. The advent of the 45 was that day's iPod. With lightweight durable records came portable players that teenagers could afford. You're still not feeling me like I need you to. That means they could take music to their basement or bedroom and listen loud and proud without being tied down to a piece of the family furniture (like with phonos that played the 78s).
The rest is history. A Cleveland DJ called his radio show "Moondog's Rock 'n' Roll Party." He just minted a new term. It's why Huey Lewis gave us the News that "The Heart of Rock 'n' Roll is...Cleveland" (Sports, 1983). The newly coined phrase went national when Bill Haley's Comets "Rock[ed] Around the Clock" (like on TV's "Happy Days"). That was in 1955. Two years later Buddy Holly hailed from Texas with guitar-driven rock (like, oh, ZZ Top and David Crowder). Chuck Berry scored the teen anthem "Rock & Roll." Little Richard put three hits in the Top 40 and then renounced rock for religion (this was before he went on to make the best commercial ever filmed).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em-b0wQzQ-0
O Lawdy, yes.
Fifty years ago this year Elvis had four No. 1 hits. He would die twenty years later, but not before being immortalized in a velvet painting stored in Rob Bell's basement. And then being used as Robbie's metaphor for repainting Scripture and the Christian faith itself. In Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005) RB is not simply arguing for a repainting of Christianity into postmodern norms, like you might slap a fresh coat of color on the outside of the steeple on church work day. He demands an evaluation of the Bible that is prepared to be in process of continually and unendingly reinterpreted.
This blog is my place to use the purple ink. Here is where I emend people's ideas because they are wack. If you want to see books I mostly agree with, go here
www.kcbt.org/media/ashelbybook.htm
I do not review them so much as present a synopsis. But Bell, he rates the purple pen. He can label me part of "brickworld" if he wants to, but I have issues with RB. And his ideas. Don’t get me wrong. It’s just that where Robbie claims his conclusions are at the heart of the matter and an accurate summary of Scripture, I can legitimately critique whether his views are complete and free of innovative presuppositions.
This is not Brickianity. It is repainting Velvet Bellvis. And while we are at it we might as well correct some wrongs of N.T. Wright.
The incarnation of Elvis coincided with the advent of records made out of vinyl (not brittle shellac) spinning at 33-rpm for LP (long play, five songs and 30 minutes to a side) and 45-rpm for "singles." It was way kewl how the "changer" would drop them onto the turntable one by one.
Something else was more important. The advent of the 45 was that day's iPod. With lightweight durable records came portable players that teenagers could afford. You're still not feeling me like I need you to. That means they could take music to their basement or bedroom and listen loud and proud without being tied down to a piece of the family furniture (like with phonos that played the 78s).
The rest is history. A Cleveland DJ called his radio show "Moondog's Rock 'n' Roll Party." He just minted a new term. It's why Huey Lewis gave us the News that "The Heart of Rock 'n' Roll is...Cleveland" (Sports, 1983). The newly coined phrase went national when Bill Haley's Comets "Rock[ed] Around the Clock" (like on TV's "Happy Days"). That was in 1955. Two years later Buddy Holly hailed from Texas with guitar-driven rock (like, oh, ZZ Top and David Crowder). Chuck Berry scored the teen anthem "Rock & Roll." Little Richard put three hits in the Top 40 and then renounced rock for religion (this was before he went on to make the best commercial ever filmed).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em-b0wQzQ-0
O Lawdy, yes.
Fifty years ago this year Elvis had four No. 1 hits. He would die twenty years later, but not before being immortalized in a velvet painting stored in Rob Bell's basement. And then being used as Robbie's metaphor for repainting Scripture and the Christian faith itself. In Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005) RB is not simply arguing for a repainting of Christianity into postmodern norms, like you might slap a fresh coat of color on the outside of the steeple on church work day. He demands an evaluation of the Bible that is prepared to be in process of continually and unendingly reinterpreted.
This blog is my place to use the purple ink. Here is where I emend people's ideas because they are wack. If you want to see books I mostly agree with, go here
www.kcbt.org/media/ashelbybook.htm
I do not review them so much as present a synopsis. But Bell, he rates the purple pen. He can label me part of "brickworld" if he wants to, but I have issues with RB. And his ideas. Don’t get me wrong. It’s just that where Robbie claims his conclusions are at the heart of the matter and an accurate summary of Scripture, I can legitimately critique whether his views are complete and free of innovative presuppositions.
This is not Brickianity. It is repainting Velvet Bellvis. And while we are at it we might as well correct some wrongs of N.T. Wright.
3 comments:
Alan-
Your daughter tipped me off to your new blog. From the looks of your preliminary posts, it looks like there will be some good content on the way. I particularly look forward to see what you have to say about N.T. Wright.
I like the blog title too, but I wouldn't recommend a purple font.
Alan,
I still remember my parents enormous wood stereo system, real hardwood with a top that lifted back to expose the turntable inside – cabinet speakers hidden on both ends of the enormous structure. Burl Ives and Neil Diamond albums neatly stored behind the sliding doors. They don’t make furniture like that anymore.
I still remember the Burl Ives album cover - Burl sitting atop a rock outcropping, overlooking a forest valley with a river somewhere below - lazily sitting with his banjo in hand. In my 20 something years I experienced deja vue of this engrained childhood memory, hiking along the Ozark Trail, stopping to sit on a similar cliff high above the Buffalo River fog.
My first and only 45 was Electric Light Orchestra's (ELO), "Don't Bring Me Down". I never could figure out, no matter how many times I listened to it (with the over-sized stereophonic headphones you know) whether the singer was saying Bruce, truce, duce or whatever.
Robbie's first of many mishaps was his Elvis illustration. Spurgeon would have obviously elected to use The Beatles for his cultural Christian commentary.
I'll invite you to my blog if I ever decide to actually blog. For now, though it's beginning to look "kewl" and has a several interesting links, it's obviously missing something.
Adrift in snow,
Robert Sanders
http://perfectfifth.blogspot.com/
Alan.
I check your blog daily for new blog posts...and every day I am denied.
how long?
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