Hobbits and Country Music

by Joe Thorn on August 8, 2005

I know. I get it. I’m short. I have always been short. This has never bothered me, though from time to time my hobbit-like stature makes for some giggles among friends. Like yesterday. Chris took me to a concert at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Before getting dinner I needed to hit the ATM, and for some reason they built the machine at a level that required me to stand on my tip-toes just to make the transaction. Chris was nice enough to take this pic.

The concert was great, but I have no idea how to classify the music. Maybe that’s why I liked it. The first set with Danny Barnes was a bluegrass/jazz/folk/rockish thing? Really I have no idea, but Danny is brilliant. I have never seen anything like it. His lyrics are humorous and sad at the same time. The second set with Bill Frisell, Danny Barnes, Jenny Scheinman, and Greg Leisz was more – man, I don’t know. Experimental? It was a jazz/rock/country – progressive kind of thing. Again, brilliant and complicated and fun. At least to me.

Liking all kinds of music – thanks in part to Chris who has showed me the beauty and complexity in some country, americana and bluegrass – this concert was a treat.

About Joe Thorn

I am the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in Saint Charles, IL, and author of Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself. Jen is my wife, and Katherine, Elias, Madeline and Kilian are my kids.

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  • http://jefflacher.blogspot.com Jeff

    “De plane…boss, de plane, de plane!”

    Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

    jl

  • Jeff T

    Joe, If we ever meet we will probably see things eye to eye.

    Jeff T

  • Vicki

    How could you even see the screen with that sun? My gosh, that’s horrible. I probably would have to wear heels to be able to be level with that thing. What were they thinking? What about little old ladies who are shrinking everyday, and need money? Hmm? What about them? Sheesh.

  • Vicki

    …By the way, you are never allowed to not come to Sojourn again. Ever. They MADE me play softball, AND there were a bunch of little teenyboppers there.

  • http://www.sbcoutpost.blogspot.com Marty Duren

    I didn’t know that they had an ATM at the Inn of the Prancing Pony.

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    LOL. Softball is good for the soul – especially when it’s forced on you. ;) I promise, I don’t see an absence coming in the near future. It will be ultimate Frisbee next week and a sojourn tee for the MVP. Of course, you have to figure out what I mean by “MVP.”

    Uh… what’s a “teenybopper?”

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Marty,

    I did feel like I was in Bree at that moment. Did you know it is believed that the art of smoking pipe-weed began in Bree, and via the Prancing Pony through the many travelers it spread throughout Middle Earth?

  • VICKI

    You don’t mean Most Valuble Player? Hmm…MVP, huh? I’ve tried to come up with variations of MVP, and it’s just not working. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see?

    A teenybopper is a pre-teen. The name is mostly used for girls, but it could be used for boys, too. It’s pretty much just like a pre-teen who is trying to be a teenager but just isn’t quite there yet, no matter how hard they try. You know what I mean, the clothes, the shoes, the makeup, the glitter lipgloss, just wait until Katherine is there. You’ll know full well what I am talking about then.

  • Pat A.

    You know Joe, if Chris was a real friend he would have given you a boost up to that ATM. Now that’s a picture I would have paid for!! :-)

  • http://sbcoutpost.blogspot.com Marty Duren

    “I do believe that your love for the Halflings’ leaf has gone to your head.”

  • http://www.stevekmccoy.com/ Steve McCoy

    Joe, do you get a booster seat at the barber? Oh wait…

  • http://frontierwebdesign.com Chad

    If you liked that, you might consider buying a CD of the group 16 Horsepower.

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Thanks Chad. I’ll check them out.

  • Chris W

    Man, the show wasn’t nearly the spectacle that you were at that ATM. It was like a cruel joke. If only they’d installed it just a little higher…

    Anyway, that was a fun afternoon of conversing, eating, and listening to great music.

    The best music is the stuff you can’t categorize.

  • VICKI

    I’ll agree to that last sentance. I found a band in England, and they are amazing, but I cannot put them into a certian category. I’ve never heard anything like them before, they were just absolutely fab. I can’t wait to get their CD.

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