music – joshua chamberlain

the doorway

In anticipation of my annual Christmas card, I’ve been tinkering around with songwriting recently. I’ll be honest, it’s miserable and I hate it. The difficultly lies in embracing that fact that I’m not very good at it. As with anything else, you have to allow yourself to be bad at something before you can beContinue reading “the doorway”

what I’ve been up to

It’s been a little while. Things have been crazy for me lately and as a result, things like posting here have fallen by the wayside. Here’s a list of things I’ve been up to and a few observations I’ve made: playing in a church band Ever notice how musicians refer to pieces of sheet musicContinue reading “what I’ve been up to”

tomorrow

I recently stumbled upon a letter E.B. White wrote in response to another man’s despair and loss of faith in humanity: Dear Mr. Nadeau: As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing thatContinue reading “tomorrow”

studio time

One of my favorite conversations ever took place in a donut shop on a fall afternoon. I was there with a musician friend of mine. We drank coffee and ate donuts and talked about creating stuff. I told him I was jealous of him. I’d always wanted to be a musician because I loved theContinue reading “studio time”

the 2021 playlist project

I just finished compiling my 2021 playlist for The Infinite Playlist Project. This collection of songs was the soundtrack for: blogging for 100 days in a row sending my best friend and his wife flowers to celebrate the birth of their kids getting drunk and praying during an assault on the US Capitol finishing aContinue reading “the 2021 playlist project”

forgetting the words

I’ve been on a Patti Smith kick lately, which led me to her performance at the 2016 Nobel Prize Ceremony to honor Bob Dylan. Part of the way through “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” Patti blanks on the words. But instead of trying to cover, she stops the song and apologizes. “I’m sorry. I’m soContinue reading “forgetting the words”

riffin’

I finally got around to finishing The Rolling Thunder Revue on Netflix this week. It was a long overdue watch, but I’m convinced it’s the kind of film you have to be tuned into a very particular frequency to really engage with. One of my favorite moments is a brief interlude with Patti Smith, whoContinue reading “riffin’”

why Dave Grohl doesn’t like to rehearse

I loved this interview with Dave Grohl, where he provides insight into the Foo Fighters’ rehearsal process: We do have a saying in the Foo Fighters, that if it gets any better, it’s gonna get worse. So I don’t like to rehearse, because I like to get out on stage and have it be rawContinue reading “why Dave Grohl doesn’t like to rehearse”

every song ever

It occurred to me yesterday how much we’ve lost in regards to the experience of the media we consume. As a teenager, there was something special about sitting in my car and peeling back the plastic on that new CD, leafing through the liner notes, slotting the disc into the player, and hearing the openingContinue reading “every song ever”

time we didn’t know we needed

I’ve said many times this last year that quarantine was time we didn’t know we needed–almost as if God put humanity as a whole in time out. (“Go to your room and think about what you’ve done…”) As a society, we’ve been forced to pause and reckon with many of our institutional shortcomings (for example,Continue reading “time we didn’t know we needed”