Today is Saint Patrick's Day, this Sunday is the first day of Spring for 2016. Springtime is traditionally a time of refreshment and renewal, gone are the cold, cold blasts of Winter's air and hopefully we can actually say no more snow at least until next winter. Spring is a time musically look when we look forward to a summer of great concerts and music festivals. SXSW has already begun in Austin, Texas and there are many more to come spread throughout the country until Autumn rolls around. On Long Island we have the Great South Bay Festival, in New England there is Soulfest and in the Mid-west there is Audiofeed. I just found out this past weekend through an extremely reliable source that "Rock N Soul Gospel" is at this present time the world's oldest indie rock radio show. That includes both the Christian and the mainstream markets.

One of the things that I am most looking forward to this Spring is seeing my friend Dave Bainbridge of the band Iona coming through the NY/Long Island area as the keyboard player for the band Strawbs. They will be playing their album "Hero And Heroine" in its entirety. This will indeed be a very cool gig. This is also a time when I think very seriously about the direction my radio show has taken and a time to once again promise my listeners that I will always and only strive to play the absolute finest music that I can find. That's no brag, just fact! It has been such an honor and privilege for almost 35 years now to do just that and I will continue to do just that for as long as I am given the opportunity to do so. You can check out "Rock N Soul Gospel on 88.1fm & WCWP.org every Friday from 9 till 11pm and Sunday from 5 till 9pm, of course that's NY time.

Last night was the annual music fiasco called The Grammy Awards Show. With the exception of the performance by Eagles with Jackson Browne doing "Take It Easy" and a vocal duet by a male & female duo whose name I didn't catch the show was pretty much a waste of time. Hollywood vampires with Alice Cooper, Joe Perry & Johnny Depp was a possible highlight but the vocals were incomprehensible. The sound man needed to go back to school for mixing lessons. Other than that most of the performances reminded me of the teen idol days before the British Invasion of the early '60's. All flash but no substance and very little if any talent to show. A musician friend of mine once said concerning a band that played at a festival we were both attending: "Flash pots and laser beams don't make up for a lack of talent and poor musicianship". Last night was an example of both!!! Some of the performances were alright but just alright doesn't do it for me these days. I need music that is going to make me stand up and take notice, not only music but extend that idea to all forms of art and media.

Working at a non-commercial college radio station I am exposed to quite a number of  artists who will never get airplay on the big boy radio stations simply because they don't have a record deal with a major label. These artists, to me at least, are the ones who are actually making an impact on the culture around us. They are the ones who are playing in joints like the Rockwood Music Hall, The Bitter End, The Mercury Lounge, The Living Room in New York City and places like Jammin' Java in Virginia, Club Passim in Boston or Schuba's in Chicago. The ones who are out there playing for gas money from a tip jar or a cut of the door. These are the ones, you can tell from their performances, who have a fire in their belly and are not just going through the motions. If you want to hear the best music being played these days then check out your local college radio station and hunt down the places where the bands that you hear on those stations play. You'll be glad you did!!!

I recently finished reading a book called "The Rock That Is Higher" by author Madeleine L'Engele, the sub-title of the book is "Story As Truth". I may be repeating myself but for the past few months, perhaps even longer I am becoming or rather becoming re-aware of the concept of great storytelling as a way of communicating truth. Reading people such as George MacDonald, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Stephen Lawhead, Jeffrey Overstreet and most recently Matthew Dickerson has reinvigorated my mind as to the necessity of great storytelling. Now just what does that have to do with producing a twice a week radio show. To me it means everything. It would be oh so simple to just crank out a top twenty countdown program but them I would sound like every other countdown show on the air. My desire is not to do that, I want to create a sonic tapestry that will not only make people stop and think about what they are hearing but will also touch them at the very core of their being. Let me say that you will never ever hear an edited song on my radio program. If an artist feels that it takes twenty or twenty five minutes to tell the story that is on his or her heart, then I have an obligation to that artist to play his or her thoughts in their fullest and not rip it apart. And anyway at my age it gives me time to make a bathroom run. A few years ago the band Glass Hammer released an album entitled "Perilous". It was one sixty plus minute tune, now I didn't play it every show but when it was played it was done in whole and not ripped apart into an edited version. My new years resolution for 2016 is to play nothing but the best music I can offer to my listeners, no brag, just fact!!! Judging from the albums that I have received in the past few weeks 2016 is going to be a banner year for "Rock N Soul Gospel" Check it out!!!

It is December, it is a month of magic and miracles. It is a time when Christians all over the world celebrate the Incarnation, the idea or rather the truth that GOD became a man, the man called Jesus of Nazareth. The author and topic of the greatest story ever told. The older that I become, and by the way I turned 66 earlier this month, the more I am aware of the importance of story as a way of communicating the concepts of truth and beauty. When I sit in the studio at 88.1fm & WCWP.org it would be so very easy to crank out a countdown show and sound like every other show on the air. My desire is to produce a show every week that will touch people and inspire them to seek after great art. In the past month or so I have found out about a number of artist that I am really excited about. Groups like The Oh Hello's, The Gray Havens, artists like Jae Gin and my old friend Mara Measor all have new or current albums in rotation on my radio show. Old standby's like Glass Hammer and Over The Rhine also have new projects hitting the airwaves and are as usual creating some of the best rock n roll that this old codger has ever heard. 2016 is going to be the very best year that Rock N Soul Gospel has ever seen or rather heard.

This past weekend "Rock N Soul Gospel" celebrated 34 years on the air at 88.1fm WCWP now known as 88.1fm & WCWP.org. WCWP is the radio station found on the campus of Long Island University's Post campus in Brookville New York. The show started out as the atypical Christian rock show but in the years since its debut has developed into an program featuring independent artists who happen to hold to a biblical worldview. I am not now nor ever has been a radio preacher or evangelist, I'm just an old rock n roll DJ who wants to turn people onto what I consider to be some of the best contemporary music, for lack of a better term, that has ever been released. Yesterday I concentrated in the first 90 minutes of the show in re-playing some of the tunes from the past 34 years that have defined what I want the radio show to be all about and that is nothing short of sonic excellence. Bands like Daniel Amos, The Choir, Spinoza and Adam Again as well as solo artists like Leigh Nash, Phil Keaggy, Courtney Reid and others too many to mention have produced some of the best rock n roll ever recorded. At least in my opinion, that is. It is my commitment to be sure that I only play the very best tunes that I can find for those who choose to spend time listening to this radio show. The three videos connected to this edition of the blog are just an example of the many fine artists who are featured on the radio show on a weekly basis for your listening pleasure. Rock N Soul Gospel can be heard every Friday night from 9 till 1pm & Sunday evening from 5 till 9pm on 88.1fm & WCWP.org. Check it out!!!

As of this past weekend we are just one month away from the radio shows 34th anniversary on WCWP radio: 88.1fm & WCWP.org. As I look back on the past thirty four years I do so with a mixture of both pride and frustration. I am proud, hopefully not in a haughty sense, that the show has continued on for so many years and hopefully will do so for many more to come. The artists that I play are some of the most talented people in the world and many of them have become good friends and I treasure these relationships dearly. The folks from New York City, from Boston & Nashville as well as other parts of the globe are creating music that I am so, so very proud to present to the listeners of the radio show. The part that I find frustrating though is that people on Long Island in the Christian community seem so very content to accept sub-standard art as good just because some one has stuck the Christian label on it. I find this is a constant source of frustration because there is such an amazing wealth of great art out there being created by people of faith who desire to work outside the box. By art I mean not only music but also poetry, literature, film and all sorts of media. It is my promise that as long as I am doing the radio show called "Rock N Soul Gospel" that I will only play the very best music that I can find. Fortunately for me and my listeners that is a very easy task because there is so much amazing stuff out there these days, all you have to do is just look for it, it's not that hard to find. The two videos connected with this edition of the blog show some of the best material out there, enjoy and be sure to listen every Friday night at 9pm & Sunday evening at 5pm NY time on 88.1fm & WCWP.org!!!

The summer of 2015 has been an exciting time, it has been a season of exploration, travel and collection. As for the exploration aspect of the time, I have been studying the crossroads of where art, faith & imagination come together. It is an exciting place to visit and the wonders to be found there are so very cool. The people who tend to dwell near or hang out near this intersection are some of the most interesting folks that I have ever met. It is a place that I love spending time at, as much as possible, because it feeds not only my mind but also my spirit and soul. I am finding that the older that I get the more interesting I find it to be there and the more time I desire to be there.

The travel aspect of this summer came about with two road trips. The first was to Orcas Island off the coast of Washington State for Kindlings Fest. More a literary conference that a traditional festival, to me at least, it was four days with some of the most brilliant and artistically inclined people that I have met in recent years. Folks like Luci Shaw, her husband John Hoyte, Dick Staub, David Dark and his wife Sarah Masen fed my spirit and my imagination in a veritable feast. Getting the opportunity to hang out with others like Jeff Keuss, my old friends Jeff Johnson and Steve Taylor and new friends like Jerry Root and poet Scott Cairns was just icing on the cake. And the books that I picked up there will keep me occupied for months to come. Musically, meeting Dennis Hendricksen and getting a copy of his album called "Dreams And Visions" was just amazing as well as the two "Prayerbook" CD's by Brian Moss. By the way Orcas Island is a very cool place to hang out and "The Island Skillet" serves an outstanding breakfast selection. Very delicious chocolate chip pancakes to die for. The only down part of the whole experience was having to sleep two nights on a bench at the Seattle Airport. Not a very comfortable way to spend a long night. The web site for the "KIndlings Muse is www.thekindlings.com.

The second road trip was my annual excursion up to Gilford, New Hampshire for Soulfest. For just about the past eight years I have had the privilege of teaching a seminar on art, faith and imagination in its various aspects at this very exciting and well put together music festival held at the "Gunstock Mountain Resort". The festival grounds include five stages, including a small intimate space called "The Back Room" as well as many excellent food vendors and merchandise booths. Although the bigger bands play on the "Revival" or main stage, to me at my age,65 by the way, the magic happens on the smaller stages. Acts and artists such as Rachel Taylor, Courtney Reid, Jim Trick, Steve Taylor & the Perfect Foil, The Violet Burning, Christopher Williams and Justin McRoberts are people who keep me coming back year after year. These folks are releasing some of the best music that I have ever heard and I have been listening to rock n roll for close to 60 years and playing it on the radio for over 47 of those years. A word of total respect to festival founder Dan Russell and his crack team of experts who put this thing on year after year, a job well done. Check out the web site at www.thesoulfest.com for info as to times and acts for next August as the time draws closer.

At both of these event I gathered new music to share with the listeners to the radio show and the summer is not over just yet. By the way "Rock N Soul Gospel can be heard every Friday at 9pm and Sunday at 5pm NY time at 88.1fm & WCWP.org and if that wasn't a hint I don't know what is.