Cover Song - September performed by Tauren Wells

July 7, 2017

Tauren Wells, the skinny-jeans wearing lead singer formerly of Royal Taylor has a solo album out and it includes this excellent cover song of September, a classic from Earth, Wind and Fire.

It doesn't quite have the depth of sounds that the original brings, but I think it captures the energy level of the song very well. Recommended!

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Cover Song - In the Hall of the Mountain King performed by Voice Orchestra

July 1, 2017

A nice a cappella version of In the Hall of the Mountain King to welcome in the summer.

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Introduction to the book of The Acts of the Apostles

May 7, 2017

Acts, or The Acts of the Apostles - to give it its full and proper title - is a fascinating book within an already fascinating book. As part of the New Testament it fills the role of transitioning the reader from the gospels to the epistles. It is not actually a gospel, yet is understood to be written by one of the gospel authors and does cover the final moments of Jesus upon this earth. It is not an epistle, yet contains the entire text of the epistle written by the church leadership in Jerusalem to the churches explaining the decision of the first recorded church council.

Many describe Acts as a history book and while technically true, this robs it of much of its importance. It does record the growth and development of the early church in chronological fashion, but not like a traditional history book. I liken it more to an exciting and wide-ranging action story that is just itching for a Hollywood producer, with access to an an awesome special effects department, to make it into an epic movie.

The author of the book of Acts is universally agreed to be Luke, the same author of the eponymous gospel. After that, the agreement reduces, with some scholars believing him to be a Greek gentile, while others believe he was a Hebrew. History tells us that Luke was a disciple, healer and traveling companion of the apostle Paul. This fits well with Paul's reference to him in Colossians 4:14 as the beloved physician.

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Cover Song - Sweet Child O' Mine performed by Luca Stricagnoli

May 5, 2017

A delightful rendition of Guns and Roses' classic track "Sweet Child O' Mine" performed using two acoustic guitars.

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Cover Song - Smells Like Teen Spirit performed by Robyn Adele Anderson

April 14, 2017

This is about the only song by Nirvana that I like, but I hardly even recognize it in this fun cover version delivered in a 1940's swing style.

The original version was sung so badly that I don't think I ever really made out what they were singing (except for the chorus of "hello" repeated many times). Now that I can understand the words, the song makes even less sense and is basically dumb. Oh well, who needs understandable, well written lyrics? I always just liked the song for the music.

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