Jars of Clay

Ah - says Verble - I sees ya admiring the Jars of Clay album hanging on the wall:not only is it a nice photo, love the colour, and not only is it a great Christian album, of the type that I wish they would make more of, that is, with lyrics that are truly intense, striking to the very core of both sincerity and doubt, rather than being simply zealous outpourings, not that I mind that mind you, but it is refreshing to have somewhat more depth in the lyrics of CCM,

but back to the main point - it is a great ACOUSTIC album. The sound of the guitars is like a breeze, like a wave, like the lull of gently rolling hillsides . . . is that enough nature imagery fer ya? Do you understand? This is a great album on many different levels - those are alway my favorites.

Now that I'm on about it, I'll admit that this album contains their one single crossover pop hit in the mid-90's "Flood" but every other song is just as good, some even better, I'd say.

One thing I'll never forget about these guys is from an interview I read with them about the time that "Flood" was peaking, the lead singer mentioned that they never wanted to stray from their message of Christ - His love, His mission, His role in our lives - and he said that if it were God's will that they would never have another hit, they would be fine: all they wanted to do was to keep making music for Him, for the rest of their lives. I mean, it's decades later now, and they still are - they keep coming out with albums, all of them very nice - great sound, great harmonies, great guitar work. But no, they've never had another hit like "Flood" - but God has allowed them to keep on doing what they love.

Prove positive once again that when you praise the Lord, you will be satisfied. He promised to take care of your needs - sometimes all it takes is bringing your desires down to the level to meet your needs.

Yah, I see yer eyes glazing over at that one. Tell you what, here's a copy of the CD - you give it a listen, and you tell me if you don't feel just a little bit more content, peaceful, after hearing it. Tell me it doesn't make you feel just the tiniest bit better about sending praise straight up to Heaven.

Give me your honest opinion - and I'll give you one free mocha swirl.

Verble serves a lone woman at booth one

He notices that she sits in the booth closest to the door, but with her back to the window, she continually glances toward the framed picture on the wall, and she always shirks from the gaze of passing people, who can't help but look at her,

because she looks familiar, like

maybe someone from a movie.

nah, that can't be it. She just has one of those faces. Looks like someone who is the not-her.

Can't be her.

"Hey," says Verble, "didn't I see you in . . . ?"

More at Booth 2

here, you need to go here - take a load off, relax

- you are so right, that would be totally onehundredpercent perfect . . . but you see, that's the whole point, you and I can't afford it. We would have to have already sold our souls when we were still in college just to have fasttracked a job in order to make the kind of scratch needed even to afford a decent PICTURE of a place like that, much less go there on our own dime - reminds me of something i read the other day when I took the kid to get a haircut - get this, one of those slutty uberrich girls - famous only because they're rich, right? the Kardashians, right, one of those - well, I picked up one of those rags, like Star or Us or something like that, and she was in Mexico with her on-again off-again husband, and the article was talking about how they needed to "reconnect" - at a resort that costs $4,700.00 PER NIGHT. And I'm thinking 'do you know how many poor villages could send their kids to school and buy them decent meals for a year with what these rich pricks blew on EACH night just to "work" on their emotional issues? i mean, it just made me sick! there's another ulcer in my gut, right there, right below the small intestine.

- you're right.

- i know i'm right.

- it's insane.

- yer dang right it's insane.

- you gotta get yourself to tahiti. 'cuz if you don't i'm gonna throw you through that plate glass window right there in front of this here coffee shop.

Overheard at Booth 2

and then there was this commercial on the big screen in the break room the other day it was from some organization still pissed about the health care and the bailout and it started off with the phrase from benjamin franklin, those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither, and i just thought that was a bit much, you know, just for some sort of grievance,

- well you're right, and the fact is, the real phrase is "those who would trade essential liberty for temporary security soon have none and deserve neither" and plus no one knows if Franklin actually came up with the phrase or not, but it was published in his magazine - still, the way I see it: that phrase was most important and should have been flying from every car bumper during those dark ages called 2002 to 2007 - the Patriot Act.

- yeah, that was a crappy deal. They could listen in on our phone calls, find out every book we check out of the library.

- librarians, teachers, professors, your employers, they could all be forced to turn over everything they know about you - yeah, and we here in America just handed over the security that protects us from our own government - we just GAVE IT AWAY in the name of the patriot act. That was the most devilish piece of legislation, and what makes me sick is that the same people who like to beat us over the head with quotes from our founding fathers are the very same people that our founding fathers FOUGHT AGAINST.

- dude, I think you've had one too many espressos.

- one always IS too many.

Overheard at Table Three

I heard that the Republicans blocked raising the cap for oil companies to pay for the damage to the environment that they themselves cause. Are we as the people of the US of A really so STUPID? When are we going to chuck out these Republos-in-the-pockets-of-Big-Business?

and then the other guy, sitting across from him at the table, tells him: because we here in America like being slaves to Big Business. Big Business keeps us addicted to a particularly sweet piece of candy called 'If you're as greedy as us, someday you might have what we've got too!'

and the first guy says: i guess you could say it's all a Shell game.

Overheard while passing through the Cafe

"and then Boxie made me laugh so hard when he said, 'Look! It's a Civil War plane!"


" . . le dije 'quiero 'cucharte quiero cucharte pero no 'sta 'blando nada'!"


"he didn't really, did he? He didn't really tell her that, did he? What did she say? I mean what COULD she say?"


"somewhere down the line we are all going to be on the hook for what's happened here today, but then, most people I think, even now, are no longer shocked by the pictures of innocent ducks covered in oil, they've seen too much of it, you know, and being irate about it has never caused in obvious positive change before . . . "

God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian

I just got back from a near death experience in which I travelled down the blue tunnel toward the pearly gates and at the pearly gates, there was St. Peter, who already knew the person I wanted to talk to, and that was none other than Kurt Vonnegut himself, who came out to speak with me, holding his traditional limp cigarette blithely in one hand as he waved it around his dishevelled hair as he talked, and I had to confess that while I really liked the premise of the book that I'd just finished, I felt it was a little too

passive,

about the whole Christian ethic.

I mean, nice idea, and it would be nice, it would be, you know, if there was no Hell, only Heaven, and everybody went there - even Hitler, just like he wrote in his book, and Vonnegut said,

"Well, you know, it's hard to face the entire concept of Hell when Hell is being forced upon you by people who simply don't like you. The problem with the living is that they have already judged who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell, and it's all based on whether they like you or not.

"I mean," he continued, "I sum it all up in the very last line of the book - 'Watch out for those Christians'."

I told him I'd caught that - very poignant line, I had to admit.

" . . . so, yeah, it's very hard to take seriously the entire concept of being condemned when it's people doing the condemning. It's only now, that I got up here, that I've realized that God Himself never condemned anybody anyway. It's only humans who condemn. I gotta tell you - God/Jesus/Holy Spirit is a wonderful wonderful God, but even He - more than any human - understand the complete irony of having followers who are the WORST purveyors of His message - I mean, the greatest message of peace and love has historically been delivered at the point of a sword, with rampant disease, with genocide, and with hysterical voices and lying hypocritical and hypercritical tongues. It's amazing there's anybody up here."

"Well, since you yourself in the book seemed to indicate the lack of need for Christ, how did you make it here?" I felt a little impertinent, asking such a question, I mean, this was our guy, when I was a teenager, all my friends and I read this man's works avidly: Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions, Welcome to the Monkey House . . . although I had to admit, my cadre of ernest readers seemed to sour a little on Galapagos, although I can't remember why, maybe it was just boring. Maybe nothing could ever really compare to Cat's Cradle.

Anyway, during my reverie, Vonnegut had been explaining to me how he had actually been able to be a Christian AND an intellectual at the same time, and when I asked him to explain again, he said he was tired and wanted to get back inside where it was nothing but poolside and highballs for eternity.

As he walked back through the gate, I asked him one last question, "So, truly, is Isaac Asimov in Heaven really?"

Vonnegut replied, "Let me tell you a little secret - every once in awhile God will grace an individual human with just a little tiny bit of His own intelligence - and those people are your Einsteins, your Newtons, your Asimovs. And of course, He's not going to let knowledge like that be reverse engineered in the flame pits of Sheol! Not in a millenium! Ta ta!"

And with that, he was gone, and

I have come back, here, to the cafe, to tell

you.