Which Tambourine Man? Which Hotel California?

Two great paragraphs in "Dancing in the Dark" (p, 294)  make us wonder about two songs: 

• Dylan's "Tambourine Man" (vs. The Byrds' version)
• The Eagles' "Hotel California"

These songs can "can work two ways: encourage people to dream...or they can foster just the opposite..."

.. Read here

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"the preacher didn't convince me, but Johnny Cash tried"

 This loaded "devotional" gem is tucked into  a "secular" book..
                  Sarah Vowell's journal entry for January 5 in "Radio On: A Listener's Diary"

...Yesterday, Portland made me nervous, and the radio didn't help...
I tuned in an AM sermon hosted by a singsongy preacher with an ironic bent.

"Why, if man is basically good..." he begins  the next thirty-three sentences: 
"Why, if man is basically good..."  did a man in the choir get mugged last night, did a woman he knows get raped, did thieves break in and steal a family's belongings, did he hear on the news that two teenagers killed their parents, and so on. Man is basically evil, he cries, that's why. He didn't convince me, but Johnny Cash tried.

This morning before everyone  else woke up, I went through 
my friend Chris's records and played a really rise-and-shine, high-voltage album by sunshine chanteuse Nico before I switched to the Man in Black's last effort, American Recordings.  A dreary little ballad, by Mr. Pure Pop for Now People, Nick Lowe,
 called “The Beast in Me” stopped me cold.

Its slow; though it's not the tempo but rather Cash's bleak and painful voice that forced me to face my own ugliness.  "God help the beast in me,"  he moans.

That Portland preacher bought a ticket on the wrong guilt trip, relying on examples of commandments broken, of killing and headline crime. By drilling his congregation with dramatic case histories, he neglects the smaller, infinitely more suitable acts against goodness and decency. Most likely, his average listener had never mugged another pedestrian, shot her husband, or robbed from the poor, but what if, like the beast in me, she had just abandoned her best friend in a time of crisis to ward off her own paranoia by getting drunk alone?  -link, p. 11-12
 

Related Johnny Cash posts:

holy heteroclite:: Johnny Cash officiating communion for ...

davewainscott.blogspot.com/.../johnny-cash-officiating-communion-for....

Aug 7, 2007 - Johnny Cash officiating communion for Rick Rubin. "We're one, but not the same...we get to carry each other.." Somehow the lyrics to U2's "One ...

holy heteroclite:: Johnny Cash: Amazing Grace and Pagan.. "st ...

davewainscott.blogspot.com/.../ray-vander-laans-faith-lessons-playlist.ht...

May 30, 2013 - holy heteroclite: Welcome! ..... Johnny Cash on "Amazing Grace" and the prison crow... vs "Man, we sure demolished that pagan atheist's a.

You've visited this page many times. Last visit: 5/12/15

holy heteroclite:: "He preaches WITH, not TO the damned ...

davewainscott.blogspot.com/.../he-preaches-with-not-to-damnedand-he.h...

Nov 8, 2006 - Those three terms, then (uncalculated, uncredentialed, and prophetic) fit U2 and Johnny Cash well. Unlike many Christians...let alone pastors.

holy heteroclite:: COFFEE, NOT JESUS

davewainscott.blogspot.com/2007/07/coffee-not-jesus.html

Jul 24, 2007 - Here is the easiest way to explain the genius of Johnny Cash: Singing from the perspective of a convicted murderer in the song 'Folsom Prison ...

holy heteroclite:: psalms with street cred and drums that ...

davewainscott.blogspot.com/.../psalms-with-street-cred-and-drums-that.h...

Oct 6, 2013 - (see U2 devotional #7b:"like a preacher needs pain") Great testimony in Christianity Today.includes some great U2 (and Johnny Cash) nods): ...

the wa-wa-wa-wa Wanderer - Holy Heteroclite

Is there such a thing as Christian music?"

"Literary Forms/Physics Formulas": chapter of 20 of "Art and Physics" by Shlain

other chapters here

Theology of the selfie/shelfie

Here's a sign of the times (above photo)...the groom and I are waiting for the bridal procession to start.
Of course the groom wants a "selfie."



I googled "theology of the selfie," to see who had theologized on the concept.







My favorite find was the one I was already aware of:

















Tim Neufeld on the famous/infamous Obama selfie at Mandela's funeral.
  Link:







A funeral, a selfie and biblical interpretation



Here are some a typical posts on the selfishness of the selfie:

• Self-Centered selfie.
• A theological reflection on the “selfie”
• A Very "Selfie" World

Here's a link to a whole 46-minute sermon video (which btw includes a live cow) called:

Improve Your Selfie : A Theology of Selfie

Of course, I love that the pope poses for the "selfies" of young people..

Here's Vincent J. Vera with a "shelfie":

I love Vincent, so I once had to get a selfie with him (and Ken; also well-loved) to prove that I know him:

But re: the "shelfie," I was recently tipped off to that term being used for post of books on bookshelves!
See my facebook post below, or click here to see on facebook, and post your own shelfie..

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Dave Wainscott The amazing Scott Jones (our young elder at third day fresno and a "pensive intellectual" spy and bibliophile) and I have recently been comparing the stack/stash of books on our (respective!) bedside nightstands. Here's my eclectic assortment..don't make fun!. (honored to tag some of the authors; Brian J Dodd,Jerry Walls, Anne Marie Miller Dallas Lon Elder...oh, and notice The Wainscott Weasel) We thought it might be fun to see what anyone else's stack looks like. @Scott. post your photo, and anyone else. post theirs. Let's make it a viral meme(:..— with Scott Jones. Like ·  · Stop Notifications · Share · Edit · Promote · November 15, 2013 ·Edited Quaid Ens, Anthony Velez, Alysa Ramey and 8 others like this. Rob Harbers Ummm....my bedside pile got too big and unwieldy, so got moved into one of the three new bookcases we just bought-else I'd have a photo to share.... November 15, 2013 at 10:32pm · Unlike · 1 Doug Buettner got a new one today: "Healing Help or Hype?" by Dr. Stephen R. Crosby November 15, 2013 at 10:51pm · Unlike · 1 Brian J Dodd Your wives let you keep books by your beside? My world is rocked. I married German. No items on horizontal surfaces. Horizontal surfaces are for--not having anything on them. My pile is a persecuted refugee. Here it is camped out on the floor, ready to...See More November 16, 2013 at 1:03am · Unlike · 4 Brad Davis Not one golf book among them....shame. November 16, 2013 at 11:47am · Unlike · 1 Dave Wainscott Brad DavisI have two golf books..both bot on heft discount : 1)"Golf in the Kingdom" and this one (despite the title, it's not really about golf:http://www.amazon.com/Alice-Cooper-Golf.../dp/0307382656 November 16, 2013 at 3:33pm · Edited · Like Dave Wainscott Brian J Dodd: I too have a stack like that on the floor, next to the bookcase! (: Thanks for the pic. I can't see too many titles, but I have at least three of those. I assume Scott Jones will post his stack after getting the wife's blessing, and taking out a few of the Russian novels(: November 16, 2013 at 3:37pm · Like Brad Davis I have read Golf in the Kingdom November 16, 2013 at 5:35pm · Unlike · 1 Rob Harbers I just counted how many I have in the to-be-read pile....now I feel pressured... November 16, 2013 at 8:38pm · Unlike · 1 Scott Jones All Marketers Are Liars November 16, 2013 at 11:36pm · Unlike · 1 Scott Jones I posted a pic-----in a separate string though November 16, 2013 at 11:37pm · Unlike · 1 Dave Wainscott I would love to sees photos of the stashes people like Mike Morrell, Terry Koehn, Kristen Bennett Marble, William Jeffrey Hurst, Anthony Velez Kyle Phillips have November 17, 2013 at 9:21pm · Edited · Like · 1 Dave Wainscott and Artur Sebastian Rosman Leonard HjalmarsonAlan Hirsch  Agnieszka Maria Zielińska Leslie Leyland Fields Happy Lee Del Canto Sabag and (don't feel left out, I ran out of tags)>> November 17, 2013 at 9:18pm · Like · 2 Kristen Bennett Marble It's a two-story stack...Hardy Boys (from one of my kids), Bible, Messengers of God, Souls on Fire, Jewish-Christian Argument, Four centuries of Jewish women's spirituality, Jewish wedding book, Pain & polemic, CD from synagogue in Jerusalem, The OT an...See More November 17, 2013 at 9:27pm · Edited · Unlike · 1 Dave Wainscott Tia Lynn Don Simmons Lois Tverberg Carl BengeKaty Lee Ann Hetherington Christian Bergthold and @Shawn Spiess ..and.anyone out there November 17, 2013 at 9:24pm · Like · 1 Mike Morrell It's not a photo so it's not nearly as fun - but if you want to peruse my entire library online, it's all here (minus the past month's acquisitions)! http://www.librarything.com/profile/zoecarnate Mike Morrell (zoecarnate) | LibraryThing www.librarything.com LibraryThing catalogs your books online, easily, quickly and for free. November 17, 2013 at 10:15pm · Unlike · 1 · Remove Preview Brian J Dodd Happy, you are getting to the point: all of these stacks are unread. Most people who say they read a book only read the cover or maybe the first chapter and stick in on the shelf. Work itself--with all the people time and interesting things you can learn from each one--is the best library you can read. Keep going--and I hope you get done an hour early today! November 18, 2013 at 4:58am · Unlike · 2 Dave Wainscott Brad Davis: but have you PLAYED golf in the Kingdom? (: Kristen Bennett Marble: wow, an amazing collection. Thanks, i will be looking more in depth. Always love the subtitle of that Rabbibinic Lit and NT book: "What We Cannot Show, We Do Not Know" G...See More November 18, 2013 at 9:39am · Like · 1 Jerry Walls Dave, I think you should add "Purgatory" since you have "Hell". Maybe "Heaven" too! November 18, 2013 at 9:41am · Like Dave Wainscott yes, Jerry Walls actually on order with amazon in my christmas package, long overdue(: November 18, 2013 at 9:43am · Like · 1 Brian J Dodd Here are the two I am actually reading (and another on my iPad). One a gift, the other borrowed. I'm with Happy--got two hours of work left and the first line of anything will put me right to sleep. November 18, 2013 at 4:15pm · Unlike · 1 Scott Jones I look at a computer screen all day at work (both reading and drawing), so one might imagine that once I got home that reading would be last on my list. However, there is something comforting and good about reading even a page or two before sleeping. A thousand times better than TV! November 18, 2013 at 4:30pm · Like · 1 Paul Miller · Friends with Arts Visalia and 4 others I have a bedside pile of books that Scott says I must read. I better get started. November 18, 2013 at 5:20pm · Like · 1 Brian J Dodd Dave, I think it would be good to hear you analyze the four basic personality types based on the book stack pictures.... November 18, 2013 at 5:23pm · Unlike · 2 Scott Jones Being such an irresistible force for erudite literacy is just something I must do, Paul Miller! (Just kidding). To his credit,Dave Wainscott has given me more books than any other person on earth (which shows that he does not hoard them, but pays it forward for others to become enlightened). November 18, 2013 at 6:21pm · Unlike · 1 Katy Lee Ann Hetherington Not many currently, but here's what I'm working through. November 18, 2013 at 6:24pm · Like Paul Miller · Friends with Arts Visalia and 4 others I think I messed up. I've been paying it backwards all this time.  November 18, 2013 at 6:25pm · Unlike · 1 Paul Miller · Friends with Arts Visalia and 4 others I don't see the architect's bible. November 18, 2013 at 8:31pm · Like Scott Jones I have The Fountainhead memorized already November 18, 2013 at 9:05pm · Like · 2 Dave Wainscott Here is Anthony Velez' contribution. Love it! I really mean to get that book on Lewis. I also had the BCP just out of camerashot in my pic, only it's the Spanish version. I am a nerd.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151989113419886&set=a.474740969885.258794.750254885&type=1&theater Timeline Photos Dave Wainscott mentioned my name in a post about reading materials by one's beds...See More By: Anthony Velez November 20, 2013 at 8:50am · Edited · Like · Remove Preview Dave Wainscott Scott Jones: the books i give you are usually from Dollar Tree..I am not too generous about paying forward my own books (; Paul Miller: I'd love to hear one or two of your titles. Katy Lee Ann Hetherington! I knew your stack would be amazing. Your...See More November 19, 2013 at 9:07pm · Like Dave Wainscott oh, Scott Jones: notice the Jesus Wars book about 4th from right in my photo. It's the one i was telling you about by the same guy who wrote The Next Christendom. (How are you enjoying that, btw? I don't have the updated edition that you have, and a...See More Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would... www.amazon.com The Fifth-Century Political Battles That Forever Changed the ChurchIn this fasci...See More November 19, 2013 at 9:14pm · Like · 1 · Remove Preview Dave Wainscott Hey everyone, take a look at Brian J Dodd's pic of the two books, about 13 comments above this one. Unless this photo is photoshopped, it appears that Jesus himself is in this photo..or took it! (: November 19, 2013 at 9:17pm · Like · 1 Scott Jones Paul Miller, maybe you missed the yellow book in center of Dave's collection: "The Edifice Complex". (may have some architecture in there) November 19, 2013 at 9:43pm · Unlike · 1 Brian J Dodd Dave Wainscott the book with the picture of Jesus called Zealot is a bestseller right now. You may be interested to know that the author, an Iranian Persian, became an "evangelical Christian" at a summer camp in Northern California. Later, he rejected ...See More November 20, 2013 at 2:42am · Unlike · 1 Brian J Dodd Do you think the Christian education-selling industry and Christian book merchandising industry have overlooked this passage in the Bible? "The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body" (Ecclesiastes 12:11-12) November 20, 2013 at 2:46am · Unlike · 1 Brian J Dodd "I want to know the way to heaven so I can be shot there like an arrow! Oh, give me the Book of God!" JW November 20, 2013 at 2:47am · Unlike · 1 Brian J Dodd I notice you have a Greek New Testament there. My heart was strangely warmed. November 20, 2013 at 2:48am · Unlike · 1 Paul Miller · Friends with Arts Visalia and 4 others Dave Wainscott: Here are a few that I have at the office. I read most of my books on my phone. I just finished The Reason I Jump and This Town. Recently read: The King of California and The Silver Star. I read anything that Mark Arax and Jeanette Walls put out. Mark is also the brother of my son's football coach. Next up is the book Scott Jones gave me. November 20, 2013 at 6:56am · Like Dave Wainscott a fascinating list, Paul Miller: U have the Botany of Desire. also intrigued by the food-themed books, a recent interest of mine. Many i have found at Dollar Tree: Polani's "In Defense of Food" and "The The Omnivore's Dilemma, "Near a Thousand Tables...See More November 20, 2013 at 9:05am · Like · Remove Preview Dave Wainscott PS Here's the complete blog posthttp://davewainscott.blogspot.com/.../and-you-whore-of... holy heteroclite:: "and, you, whore of the American spies, drink also!": as words of institution... davewainscott.blogspot.com Welcome! You have accidentally reached the blog of heteroclite dave wainscott. I...See More November 20, 2013 at 9:05am · Like · Remove Preview Brian J Dodd Christ in me, wearing my sandals, taking the pic  November 20, 2013 at 9:10am · Like Paul Miller · Friends with Arts Visalia and 4 others Dave Wainscott The Omnivore's Dilemma is one of my favorite books. I read all of Michael Pollan's books also. I like Alice Waters too and Food, Inc. etc..... I could go on and on. November 20, 2013 at 9:52am · Edited · Unlike · 1 Dave Wainscott Paul Miller; you are amazing..let's talk books andScott Jones soon December 10, 2013 at 10:24am · Like Paul Miller · Friends with Arts Visalia and 4 others From my son's desk. December 10, 2013 at 1:40pm · Like Ray Timmermans Hey Dave, check out the books in my library (hover over my name). Does that count? December 10, 2013 at 7:12pm · Unlike · 1 Dave Wainscott love that Lewis book, he's reading that at Bullard High? My son is a grad and daughter there now..Ray Timmermans: i'm coming to visit you just to visit those books! December 11, 2013 at 12:17pm · Like Ray Timmermans Just let me know when...gotta tidy up Would love to see you! December 11, 2013 at 12:20pm · Like

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P.S.:  See photo below; I'm apparently  a Calviminian.  Some folks wouldn't dare put these books on the same shelf/shelfie.  But I was predestined to use my free will to post this: