How I relate to Jim Shwartz

Running my band is like running the Lions. The quarterback keeps going down. Instead of relying on the 3rd string, I'd like to introduce to members of the press Jake Shadik, new horn player for The Rustbelt Unsemble.

(Holds jersey up and smiles)

The first hit is always free...

So I've been consumed now with getting back into shooting film after 16 years away from it. I have decided to hit the pro-sumer level equipment-wise. I will begin by shooting the visual backgrounds for The Rustbelt Unsemble (my band) performances, so I will be getting a kick ass camera, a Mac Mini and a projector--leaving analog behind. :( :( :(

It all started when my friend Eddie gave me his 10 year old Mac G4 a few weeks ago. I have been inspired since my 4 year hiatus on studio equipment purchases (which ended recently), and am hitting the wish list hard now. My equipment and sensibility is still so turn-of-the-century.

I must say it is both exciting and sad to embrace something new, though, isn't it?

Job continued

So my brother gave me Carl Jung's 'Answer to Job' to read. It appears that Jung is psycho-analyzing God in this book, which I find utterly hilarious.

I also realized how the movie Trading Places seems to also have the whole Job thing going on too.

I want to write much more, but having been up for the last 21 hours and having to be back up in 4 is going to limit that possibility tonight.

The Job EP

I just completed a new project. A three song EP entitled 'Job', based on, you guessed it, The Book of Job. The lyrics are direct 'readings' from Job 3, 7 and 38. (They can be found on http://soundcloud.com/steven-goossen for reference). Which consist of Job ranting, a sympathetic speech, and God's response.

Now this text would obviously be taken out of context, and I'm no theologian, but I have gone and created a work using this material which now stands on it's own as it's own statement. I am stuck now with: what exactly is the statement I have made here? I have gotten some response on an interpretive level, of at least the imagery that one listener was left with, and while flattered by the response, I'm not satisfied that the response I got is truly the statement being made.

There is so much passion and power to the words here, that what can get lost is that there are no real satisfactory answers here. Perhaps in God's response we are to take comfort in the majesty of the universe and creation, but the comfort we are seeking is from a malady created by God in the first place. Listen in and give me some feedback.

Ultimately these passages were chosen for the power of their words and the context they provide in and of themselves and to each other--the music is also a statement as well.

Let me know what you think!

Steve