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The narrow gate 9

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narrow gate

· 1 year ago

May 1999 - Issue 9
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...for christians who are musicians, artists, writers, poets, actors or performers, and people interested in such...

*TNG is sent out by subscription. If this was forwarded to you and you'd like to subscribe write us and put Subscribe TNG in the subject. If you do not wish to receive TNG anymore put unsubscribe TNG in the subject.*

*All letter we receive will be considered for our shaunaskye@aol.com unless requested otherwise.

LETTER FROM SHAUNA

"Obscene Lyrics and Raging Cholerics"

A few month ago I decided to stop publishing TNG, but after mulling it over I realized I can't just let TNG die. When I stopped sending the issues out, I had a trillion other things on my mind. Actually, I still have a trillion things on my mind, but without TNG I can't share them properly.

Being an artist who is also a Christian can be . . . different. I never set out to be a "Christian musician" but when I put chords and melodies together, the lyrics that usually work best are words from the Bible. I'm not sure why this is, but I'm thinking God has a sense of humor. Of course there are exceptions, one being my song "Bright" inspired by C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.

This is kind of funny. (Actually it's funny but not funny, if you know what I mean.) I recently played "Bright" for a group of Christians, and explained to them what it was about. Unknown to me then, one of the guys listening became seriously offended by the song. He was silent while I was there, looking down and shuffling his feet when I walked near him. I asked him if he had questions or comments, but he said nothing. However, the minute I left he became vocal, telling everyone that my lyrics were obscene and could serve no purpose to further the kingdom of God.

I lifted an eyebrow when I heard about this. Why would anyone think my lyrics were obscene? I wondered. I thought the friend who told me about this was joking, and my first reaction was to laugh. However, he assured me that he was serious. So what was I missing?

Even after my friend quoted the "offensive" line to me, I didn't get it at first. I had to think a minute before the silliness registered. The following is it.

Lucy went into the wardrobe
as Edmond he watched it all

Anyone familiar with the C.S. Lewis book would know that Lucy is the little girl who goes into the wardrobe to discover the world of Narnia inside. Edmond is her brother who secretly watches her go in because he's a little brat up to no good. What ensues is a fairy tale of epic proportions, one that mirrors the plan of salvation in many ways. The book is a classic.

The guy who heard my song didn't see it that way. He interpreted Lucy going into the wardrobe as a lady undressing, and Edmond as a peeping Tom. No amount of telling him about Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia would change his mind. If I would have put Song of Solomon's

Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle,
which feed among the lilies"

in there he would have probably had a seizure. This would be funny if the guy didn't know any better, a misunderstanding we could all laugh about. But this guy had three Christian friends explaining the song to him again, after I already explained it to him once, and he still wouldn't listen. He's convinced I am "lukewarm" because of it. (Note: If you're unfamiliar with the term, all you need to know is that in certain Christian circles to be called "lukewarm" means you're not worth spit. [See Revelations 3:16].)

Other than my side job as obscene poet (KIDDING) I consider myself a solo artist. However, I'm playing guitar and singing with http://www.signsofjesus.com/default.htm (SIGNS OF JESUS) until August 1. My time with them has been great, especially after my excursion into this dreadful other band who shall remain nameless.

I actually liked the dreadful band's music. What I didn't like was how the band leader goaded the bass player. "Why can't you get it, Chuck? We showed it to Shauna last practice and she can already play it! You moron." OK, he didn't say moron, but he may as well have.

My response to this was to discreetly take the band leader aside and say "You know, Sid, [not his real name] you're going to make the bass player love me if you keep saying thing like that to him." Sid would merely shrug. He thought he knew human psychology, and that this goading would give the bass player a kick in the pants. Uh huh. It worked all right. The bass player decided he'd let that kick in his pants kick him right out the door. Good-bye bass player. Go join the 30 other bassists who tried to play for Sid and didn't quite cut it.

Dreadful, but it's not why I left. You see, Sid and I had religious differences. He thought he was God and I disagreed!!!

I was hoping that Sid and I would click like Lennon and McCartney, but we were more like Lennon and Lennon with me doing a bad impersonation of George. I should have seen it coming. "You know, Shauna," Sid said one day before practice, "about 90% of the musicians I know say I'm difficult to work with." He didn't think I would agree since I was usually quiet and "picked up fast." That's the biggest compliment I ever got from him. "You pick up fast." I wanted to write the words down and frame them. Why? Because everything else he said insinuated that he was doing me a favor by allowing me to work with a genius such as himself, and that he, out of the goodness of his enormous heart, would resign himself to be patient with me since I was lacking in so many areas; and by the way, why couldn't I be more like that other girl who used to be in the band? Now she was terrific!

Of course Sid claims he never actually said these things. He didn't in those exact words, but he may as well have. He thinks I took him all wrong, and that my lack of understanding is due to the fact that I am female. "Stop being so feminine and think like a guy," was his advice. Right. If I had an ounce of testosterone I'd have already hit him over the head with my guitar.

As you can tell, the fact that I was actually thinking of hitting someone with my guitar meant that the dreadful band was not very good for my spiritual well being. ("Be ye angry and NOT sin." ) Fortunately I managed to control my temper in Sid's presence. HE'S LUCKY. Another thing is that I shouldn't have been so concerned with his opinion of my talent. My own artistic ego needed a real check at the time too, so I'm not laying it all on Sid. The Christlike thing would have been for me to do the best job I could unto the glory of God (which I honestly tried to do, aside from those times I wanted to bite his head off), and treat Sid like the Bible tells us to treat our bosses, be they nice bosses or harsh ones.

OK, I've complained enough about Sid, but I just had to get that off my chest. I'm sure most of the musicians reading this have worked with difficult people at one time or another, or can relate to Sid a little bit. I probably have some Sid tendencies myself, or else his behavior wouldn't have grated on my nerves so much. Like minds usually want to kill each other, I say. But hey, Jesus loves the raging Cholerics too.

On to other things.... In publishing TNG again I want to make some changes. I have plenty of "jobs" open for writers which I've listed in this issue. This is volunteer writing, but we are happy to shamelessly promote you in the issues your work appears in with ads, plugs, etc.

Beginning with next issue Mark Sternal will be writing a regular column for us entitled GUITAR BLACK BELT. As a guitar player, and former student of the martial arts, I can dig the title. The column will probably be on the technical aspects of guitar, so (surprise surprise!) TNG will offer practical help as well as amusing (ahem) editorials.

Mark (AKA Sparkie) used to play lead guitar for the band CHRISTIAN which I handled PR for in the early 1990s. At the time he'd only been playing a couple of years, but even then his awesome leads could spark envy in older guitarists.

Sparkie and I were young punks during the CHRISTIAN era and I think we related to one another in a brother/sister way: hence we cared about each other like family, but argued over the dumbest things! This was usually when we were slap happy from late-night out of state gigs. Still, God managed to use us to lead people to Jesus. Hey, if God could use us, He could use anybody.

For some reason I always picture Sparkie with a guitar in one hand, and Florida orange juice in the other. Ironic that he would move to Florida after the band ended. I miss having him around, and I'm very proud of him. He runs his own music school, and has written some great guitar books. For more info on his books visit: http://members.aol.com/moonletter/mjs.htm

If anyone is interested in writing for TNG contact me. Though we are geared to artists of all kinds, we may seem more musician focussed. This is not on purpose. It's just that we hear more from musicians, and I tend to write more about the things I'm involved in. This will change if we hear from you. I am open to considering new columns, even if they aren't on the list below. I try, but I can't do it all, so if you feel lead to, please consider writing for us to make TNG as diverse and helpful as possible.

Until next time!

Shauna Skye

ARTICLES ARE DUE BEFORE THE 25th OF EACH MONTH

Here's another way you can help. If you know of any sites that would be helpful to our readers, please send them in. Let us know what category they fit into. If the category isn't listed below and we like the link we'll make a category for it.

CHURCH LINKS

Send us a link for your Christian church. Our relationship with God is more important than any art we can do, and it is not His will for us to go at this alone. We need each other!

Heart Maneuvers Christian Fellowship http://www.ameritech.net/users/hmcf/hmcf.html (This is my church.)

LINKS FOR MUSICIANS

Musician Assist Dot Com (http://www.musicianassist.com/)
Christian Band Promotion (http://toomuchinfo.home.mindspring.com/bandlist.html)
UCMShowcase.com (http://www.ucmshowcase.com/index.html)
The MODE - Free Classified for Musicians (http://www.themode.com/)
Musicians Classifieds (http://www.musicians-classifieds.com/frames800.htm)
Underground Music Monthly (http://ummusic.com/
Chicago area: Illinois Entertainer http://www.illinoisentertainer.com/

ACTORS/PERFORMERS/etc. (Chicago area)

Getgigs.com Home http://www.getgigs.com/index.htm

CHRISTIAN BAND LINKS

Send in links for YOUR band. Note the style of music. Our readers have a wide variety of taste.

Never Enough http://www.jesusfreak.com/neverenough (heavy/alternative?)
Signs of Jesus http://www.signsofjesus.com/default.htm (rock)

LINKS FOR WRITERS/POETS/ETC

Writers Club: http://www.writersclub.com/

LINKS FOR ILLUSTRATORS/ETC.

ADS FOR OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Have a publication? Want to swap ads? Write me!

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We have stopped doing music and book reviews because I do not have enough help, I am not rich enough to forward the goods to reviewers, and because most of the stuff I receive is not to my taste. I feel sorry for the sincere Christian artist who sounds like Celine Dione and sends me her tape. The best I can do is say "Great message . . . er . . . um . . . yeah" since I don't know beans about why someone likes that stuff.

If you would still like to send something to me through snail mail, go for it. I might review it, I might not. Even if I don't review it, I will most likely mention whatever it is. Be sure to add me to all your press releases and such. Write:

Shauna Skye
1819 North Center
Suite 3 E
Crest Hill, IL. 60435

What? You're still here?