Brian Contratto took some time to talk to Christian comedy duo God’s Pottery, asking them for their advice on hypotheticals (for his first interview, click here). God’s Pottery will be advice on the pressing issues young people face in college and beyond, this Saturday at Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill.
Claire is having trouble focusing in her schoolwork and is considering the use of a study drug like Adderall.
This is one of the new designer drugs. I can tell you right now she’s already in a very dangerous place. It’s a myth that many successful people do drugs. The fact is, a successful person by definition does not do drugs. You know how in baseball all the records are in question now because of the drugs they’re taking? It’s the same thing in academics. If you start poisoning the records with brain “juice” the whole system’s gonna collapse. If she wants to do a drug to stay awake, try a coca cola—even that’s a little edgy. Or celery with a little bit of honey.
Andrew wants to join a fraternity but is worried about their reputations for intense partying and hazing.
There’s nothing better than young men spending a lot of time together. Whether it’s team building, intramural sports, community service….But the truth about alcohol is that it too is a drug (and we’ve already covered that). This drug is especially dangerous though, because it’s in liquid form.
We’ve heard of some of these college students doing keg stands—at first we thought it was like a charity lemonade stand, where you give fifty cents to an orphanage.
The truth is, Brian, fraternities started with the monks and now it has devolved into these terrible parties with weird games, like “Who can hug Brenda the longest.” Avoid alcohol—we recommend tapping into the Keg of Christ. You can get super drunk on Christ, and that keg never runs out. (more…)
The press release for the new album, The Century of Self, calls it “a return to form” and then references Source Tags and Codes, your most critically acclaimed album. Is that accurate, or just an annoying comparison?
I hate that thing. It’s stupid. I usually write some creative essay as a press release. I don’t know really, I guess that Source Tags and Codes was just good timing. Our music has always sounded like us.
Obviously, critical reactions are hot and cold since then.
Yeah, well I’m at a place in my life where I’m making music for myself, not really with what people want in mind. I mean—I’m definitely grateful for their support though. But when I was younger being well-received was a big priority, As you get older you get more in tune with your inner voice, and make what it wants to create. It gets more important I think—if you don’t follow your own intuition, your desire, it’s very damaging psychologically. (more…)
The Beast, bred of strong musical genes, will drop their debut LP Silence Fiction in October. The band will self-release/co-release the album with Chapel Hill’s Robust Records. The band will also play a CD release party at the Duke Coffeehouse Oct. 16 with Carlitta Durand, Kooley High and Freebass 808. You can check out the album art here.
John Darnielle has never been easy to read. But his latest album, The Life of the World to Come, is a bit surprising. In my superficial early listenings to the album (not the leaked version, but the real version), it sounds like a Mountain Goats album–which is certainly a good thing. All 12 tracks are Bible verses. That is, they are the passage citations of Bible verses. In light of this recent interview (sample quote, “One way you can get really close to God is to sin as hard as you can.”), I decided to investigate what each verse said, turning to the King James edition (bible.com version–who doesn’t love the Internet? ) of the good book for answers.
1 Samuel 15:23 “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”
Psalms 40:2 “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”
Genesis 3:23 “Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.”
Philippians 3:20-21 “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”
Hebrews 11:40 “God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”
Genesis 30:3 “ And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.”
Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
1 John 4:16 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
Matthew 25:21 “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
Deuteronomy 2:10 “The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;”
Isaiah 45:23 “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”
Check out the Fall Arts Preview, on stands today. In regard to the Duke Performances story, Director Aaron Greenwald mentioned a two-part video that he said, in many ways, was a source of inspiration for the 2009-10 programming. You can check out the videos on Duke Performances’ Web site here or below. Lambchop and Alejandro Escovedo will play at Reynolds Industrial Theater Nov. 13. You can buy tickets to this, and all other Duke Performances shows, here.
