Scott Fillmer » music

Celebrating the Life of Erin Stephens Today at Cornerstone

Scott Fillmer — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 02:09:09 +0000

This week our church lost a dear friend as the Lord brought home Erin Stephens. Erin touched this church and the Auburn community in so many ways, and this was quite evident by how many people came to say goodbye to her today. It was a privilege for me to be a part of that and I felt quite blessed to be able to share this time with her family. It’s always amazing to be able to celebrate a life lived for Christ, and that’s what we did. Her service was as she requested to her husband and family, a celebration of her life and a time of worship. One of my favorite verses from was read, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die”, from John 11:25 along with a great message of encouragement from Rusty. We also sang How Great Thou Art, I Will Rise, and You’re Beautiful, a great song of worship by Phil wickham from the Cannons album. I love the last verse of that song, which says…

When we arrive at eternity’s shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we’ll sing
You’re beautiful

Here are a few photos from today’s worship. It really was beautiful.

Posts Related to This Topic:

Last Few Instrumental Photos from the National Polka Festival

Scott Fillmer — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 19:18:24 +0000

Here are two more instrumental shots from last weekend’s 2011 National Polka Festival from Ennis Texas. You can also see the NPF gallery on Flickr. These are two of my favorite shots of the weekend, one being the corner edge of a steel guitar. These were both taken handheld from about 20 feet away from both instruments, while they were being played. If you are interested in the EXIF data on the images just head over to the Flickr gallery.

Posts Related to This Topic:

National Polka Festival in Ennis Texas 2011 and It’s Age at 45

Scott Fillmer — Sat, 28 May 2011 14:36:51 +0000

Last night started the 45th Annual National Polka Festival from Ennis, Texas. I’m not going to post a bunch of photos here on my blog but you can see the photos on my Flickr Set for the National Polka Festival. This festival is something we try to go to every year, and it’s an event Deborah has gone to since she was about 3 or 4 years old. Unfortunately it hasn’t changed much since she was 3 or 4 years old, but it’s still quite fun to celebrate her Czech heritage with others. I just wish the promoters and people in charge of marketing the festival would recognize we are no longer in the 1970′s and make a better attempt to pass along an important event and heritage to the younger generation. It’s time!

I’m not in charge of course but I do work in communicating a message, communicating a way of life that has to be passed from one generation to another in order to survive, and there are some similarities to this and my own ministry. I totally understand their desire to maintain tradition, and that’s important, but each year that goes by the festival promoters attempt to remember the past, not necessarily the traditions, and do nothing to bring in the youngest generation.

Case in point, I go to the SOKOL (the starting hall last night), open Foursquare, no venue checkin. Fine, I create one, take a pic, upload it, now I’m Mayor (haha). I take some photos, go to upload them to Flickr. There is no Flickr group, so I create one (Polka Festival). The only pics on Flickr that show up are from 2 years ago when I posted them, ok, I’ll post a few more. There is no chatter on Twitter, none on Facebook (none that I can find officially from the NPF website, thought they do have a Facebook page, very commendable), and zero, I mean zero computers or other connected devices at the event. Of course there is no wifi (I brought my own) so it wouldn’t make much sense to have a “device” anyway. And, not to embarrass anyone at all, but, all you have to do is take one look at the National Polka Festival website and you get the whole picture. I mean really, come on guys, pay some high school kid $250 to update your website? Do a google search for the “National Polka Festival” and after the official site I’m number 2 and 3 on Google’s list, and I have nothing to do with the festival at all. So far, what they did do differently is bring in a “magician” for the weekend. It would take a whole completely different blog post to explain the things I think are wrong about that, but oh well. We have given it several years and we will probably not come back after this 2011 festival, instead opting to go to Nebraska where at least it will be a new experience.

I say none of this to chastise the festival but in an attempt to give them an outside, objective, perspective on the festival in hopes they will embrace the younger generation so it won’t completely die off… and I’m NOT the younger generation just in case they are reading this, I’m over 40, so you need to be ahead of what I’m talking about. I’ll get off my soapbox now, that’s my free advice to the NPF people in charge.

So, today there is a parade, venders, and Czech dancing and food at all three halls. I will be sure to ruin my diet by eating all the great German and Czech food available, and I’m sure we will enjoy our time at the festival today. For photos of the event just check out my Flickr page. You can also see posts from the previous years 2010, 2009, Saturday Parade 2008, 2008, 2007, Saturday 2006, and 2006.

Posts Related to This Topic:

My Favorite Up and Coming Musician

Tumble — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:29:00 +0000

The Photo of the Day today is one of my favorite electric guitar players and musicians, and he has his game-face on. I am pretty amazed at how well Mike can handle a guitar and you should hear him do Sweet Child of Mine

Posts Related to This Topic:

To Feel God You Must Believe in Him

Scott Fillmer — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:05:33 +0000

This has been one of these craziest few weeks in our house in years, and for the first time in what feels like forever, some routine and normalcy is slowly returning. I finally had a chance to just read again for a short while this morning, and I came across this explanation that Mstislav Rostropovich gave in how to listen to music. Although he was talking about music, I think he can use God and music interchangeably in this explanation.

There is a philosophy which says that in order to feel God, you must begin to believe in Him, just as in order to feel the warmth of a stove, you must come close to it. This is also true with music. In order to feel its warmth, you must come close to it, and open your heart to it. Sometimes that can be awfully hard work. I know many people who come to concerts buttoned up to the last button, so to speak, and who leave buttoned as well.

But music is not so aggressive that it will come through to you without your help. In order to feel its warmth and beauty, you have to shed your emotional insulation, just as if it were a coat, and prepare to listen with your heart.

-Mstislav Rostropovich

Posts Related to This Topic:

Jimi Hendrix and the Red Wall of Art in Opelika

Tumble — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 22:37:59 +0000

Photo of the day today comes from a shot I took a while back from a cool little place in Opelika called 8th and Rail. This night was an art and music night provided by some local artists.

Posts Related to This Topic:

Jesus, I need Your Love, Hawkmoon

Scott Fillmer — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:54:37 +0000

Do we recognize how much we need God’s love in our life, or put a different way, how much do we desire that love that only God can fulfill? Our lives are so busy, we tend to just push away this desire or we may not even think about it at all. But even when we do contemplate God’s love, we can only express it in terms that a limited human mind can do (like below), in terms of things that are familiar, but it’s so much more than that.

I came across a familiar poem today that expressed, in worldly terms, how much one can desire the love of another, and it reminded me more of whether we desire God at least like this, or is it only this powerfully expressed for the things of this world? If we can express worldly love “like the hot needs the sun, like honey on her tongue, like oxygen, I need your love”, how much greater is the love God has for us? Without the desire for God’s love, and for His Glory, we are just about in the same shape as my widow pictured above, broken.

I have gone over the words below about twenty times now, it’s pretty powerful (even more when put to music), but how much more should we desire God’s love… probably more than we need to take our next breath.

I Need Your Love

Like a desert needs rain
Like a town needs a name
I need your love
Like a drifter needs a room
Hawkmoon
I need your love

Like a rhythm unbroken
Like drums in the night
Like sweet soul music
Like sunlight
I need your love

Like coming home
And you don’t know where you’ve been
Like black coffee
Like nicotine
I need your love (I need your love)

When the night has no end
And the day yet to begin
As the room spins around
I need your love

Like a Phoenix rising needs a holy tree
Like the sweet revenge of a bitter enemy
I need your love

Like the hot needs the sun
Like honey on her tongue
Like the muzzle of a gun
Like oxygen
I need your love (I need your love)

When the night has no end
And the day yet to begin
As the room spins around
I need your love

Like thunder needs rain
Like a preacher needs pain
Like tongues of flame
Like a sheet stained
I need your love

Like a needle needs a vein
Like someone to blame
Like a thought unchained
Like a runaway train
I need your love

Like faith needs a doubt
Like a freeway out
I need your love

Like powder needs a spark
Like lies need the dark
I need your love

I need all the love in your heart… and I need all the love in your heart…

~ Hawkmoon 269, U2

Posts Related to This Topic:

Ode to Pachelbel Canon in D :: Poem

Scott Fillmer — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:02:29 +0000

I thought this week I would try my hand at a piece of poetry constructed in iambic tetrameter. Not nearly as easy as it initially seemed it might be, and certainly not perfect either, below you will find Ode to Pachelbel Canon in D. Some of the iambs don’t exactly line up, but I stayed pretty consistent with the correct number of feet. I always use to say about art (mainly referring to my photography) that the less you had to explain a piece, the better it was, so not really sure how much explaining this piece needs, probably a lot.

The inspiration for this poem came from German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel’s famous work called “Canon in D”, which I was listening to at the time of course. Pachelbel was a 17th century composer, from a somewhat Lutheran tradition, who wrote “Canon in D”, a piece of chamber music that was originally scored for three violins, and basso continuo, and originally paired with a gigue in the same key. A concerto (something usually composed of three parts) used three different types of instruments, with three violins, therefore the poem has three stanzas. Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” in our day has become basically a one hit wonder, if you could call it that, which is now popular at weddings and the like.

For what it’s worth, here it is.

Ode to Pachelbel Canon in D

Strings dance across the bars today
What does it mean, to whom they say
My praises sing to figure bass
Some go here, some try minor “A”.

Strings dance across the bars today
Is time short, some just fade away
My fraction of the whole appears
A crescendo is coming next my dear.

Strings dance across the bars today
Some jumping and shouting “Olé!”
They argue still, their voices raise
No matter, an applause, saves the day.

Posts Related to This Topic:

Lala.com Now Shutdown and Discontinued

Scott Fillmer — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:45:41 +0000

I was sorry to see Lala.com get shut down by Apple on May 31st. I had been a Lala.com user, trader, listener, since it was back in Beta testing and it was only a few guys trading CD’s with no jewel cases or artwork, back when their logo was red, not blue. That was back when LaLa was great. Bill Nguyen started LaLa.com with an invite beta phase on March 6, 2006, for the purpose of being able to trade physical CD’s.

It was great, I had stacks of CD’s I didn’t want or didn’t want to listen to any more, I just threw them up there and looked for CD’s I did want (the original Swaptree but only for CD’s). All for $1 a trade. I got to meet new people who were also interested in music, and added to my music collection quite a bit during that time.

That led into a new phase called LaLa 2.0, which totally killed the trading on the site. To me, this was the beginning of the end for LaLa because I was there for the trading. They moved everyone over to Swaptree but it just wasn’t the same at all. The site then moved into live streaming music and really became a totally different site at that point. After a while, I came back and really began to like the new format of streaming music and the ability to listen to virtually any album via stream, or any of my own music, synced to their servers. I could listen to an entire album before I went to purchase the album on iTunes or Amazon, and the format was totally different from Pandora or Last.fm (both of which I like for different reasons).

But then… Apple bought LaLa.com, and as much as I like Apple, LaLa’s day were numbered. It was very clear Apple was going to shut down the site. Many of us were just hoping for an Apple version of LaLa, but so far, that has not come to pass at all. Of course they could be just shutting down to reload at this point but who knows. See ::

… and so on… There are all kinds of speculation saying that Apple will now lead the way in music in the cloud (and Apple Sees New Money in Old Media from the WSJ). Those saying Apple will be…

rolling out a cloud-based version of iTunes that would allow users to upload their media collections to Apple’s servers and stream the content to their computers and portable devices, reducing local storage requirements and eliminating the need to specifically sync content between devices…

I know Apple is powerful and all, but the music industry has been trying, really hard, to kill itself for years, and Apple would have to completely rearrange their agreements with the music industry to make this cloud stream happen. I guess Apple could be the one, they have to announce something at WWDC next week that hasn’t been blown by Gizmodo. In the mean time, the consumer is the one who looses, along with the artists, and especially the Indie artists who can thrive in the world of online music streaming.

Now if we could only get Spotify to open up their service to those of us in the United States (without having to use a proxy server, bit torrent, tor, IP address changer, i.e., just open up your international servers) we could get back to the business of discovering new music, and listening to the artists, not the businesses fight back and forth for the almighty dollar.

Looking for an alternative to LaLa in the mean time? Try Pandora, Last.fm, or Spotify (if you can get on), all good sites, but just not the same as LaLa.com of old.

Posts Related to This Topic:

Bose Great Customer Service on Damaged In-Ear Headphones

Scott Fillmer — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:19:04 +0000

Normally I would not just do a post to plug a specific company, unless they had done something really outstanding (or perhaps done something really poorly), which Bose has done now, at least twice. Way back on November 26th 2008 I bought a pair of Bose TriPort In-Ear Headphones from Best Buy for around $100 including tax. At the time, they were probably the most expensive ear-bud type headphones I had purchased but looking back, it was the best money ever spent for that type of thing.

Not only do these headphones have the best sound quality of any ear bud headphones (see my product review on CNET) but Bose backs them up with a total and complete one year warranty. Big deal right, well, except for when you wear them every day in all different conditions and they don’t make it that one year.

In July 2009 the wires fried and my nice expensive headphones had lasted about 8 months. I contacted Bose and they replaced the damaged pair, for free, and in about a week I had a brand new pair of headphones. Those Bose sent me in 2009 lasted until last week with photo below, about another 8-9 months. So I emailed Bose again, thinking this time I was out of luck, and once again they offered to replace them for free. Not only that, but they even offered to upgrade the set to the mobile version with the inline mic for $29.

It seems that once you pay for something from Bose, if you use them like I do, you have a perpetual warranty.

Bose told me again that this new pair, being shipped around June 1 2010 will carry the same full one year warranty. Wow, just love when a company stands by their products. Our culture is fully immersed in the generic, low quality, disposable, product lines that flood our discount box stores, but there are still a few companies that make a high quality product, and usually the higher price is well worth paying. Of course, they also get my business beyond these headphones.

My wife has a pair of these headphones, and I also own a pair of their QuietComfort 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones (probably the best pair of headphones on the market for the price, see my CNET review), and their Bose On-Ear Headphones (an in-between model). Some audiophile will argue my point on sound quality, but for the price, and some are far far more expensive, Bose has found a great medium between price and quality

In this case, my high price of $100 for a pair of high quality in-ear headphones from Bose cost me about $0.08 per day if I include the new pair that are on their way. There are a couple of caveats with this of course. If your headphones last longer than a year, you are pretty much out of luck. I am probably not the most typical user of these headphones. I wear them, and have worn them, on a tractor cutting 40 acres of grass through the entire summer, in the woods, on a bike, a motorcycle, in the car, in the rain, snow, and every other imaginable condition.

Of course the negative you can take from this is that obviously, under heavy and daily use, these headphones lack a bit of durability, but as long as Bose continues to stand behind them, I’m ok with that at this point. Products today, even high quality products, anything that is mass produced, are really made for the “averages”. If you are an under-average user, you pay more and get less, and if you are an over-average user, you pay less and get more, simple as that.

Good customer service and high quality products are a hard combination to find today so I like to point it out when it comes across path. I can think of only a handful, like Apple, maybe Honda? What are some of the companies and products you have found today that have similar customer service?