Hey Stu, I have two questions for you. 1: what is your "job" at Sony? Do you write songs for other artists? Also, have you ever met Brian May?
Hey… I have a publishing deal as a songwriter. So yeah I write songs for a bunch of different artists, usually with the artists themselves.
I’ve never met Brian May but would love to. When I heard Queen Live Killers for the first time, i wanted to play guitar and nothing else :)
Advent with Stu g Day 17
Studio Tour
Good morning! thought you’d like to come to work with me today.
When i’m not out on the road, or on a session in Nashville this is where I spend most of my time.
I shipped my studio gear out last year and installed it in one of my publisher’s writers’ rooms. (shout out to Holly, Devon and all the great folks who work for essential music/sony atv)
So ladies and gentlemen…welcome to The Doghouse USA…
Work in progress (Taken with instagram)
Advent with Stu g Day 16
Heartless
Lurking behind today’s door is an acoustic cover of my favourite Kanye West song Heartless.
I may be in the minority, but I really loved 808’s and Heartbreaks. It’s cool to see an artist wearing their heart on their sleeve, journaling a difficult time in song like that.
I identify…I’ve got the songs, I just haven’t released them yet.
There’s a lot of words in this song and it took me about 20 takes…(oops) and there’s still a fluff at the end.
2 years ago I performed a house concert to friends before I played the Greenbelt festival. This was one of the songs and it holds good memories.
Shout out to my friend Tom who when given a choice, chose this for today
Hope you like it
Sometimes work is too much fun! (Taken with instagram)
Advent with Stu g Day 15
How I play Majesty:
I had a few requests to post up a video showing how I play Majesty. I’m not really a teacher and I’m not that hot on theory but hopefully this is helpful to those that asked.
Delirious? used to play this in C …with OSS we’ve been doing it in B It’s slightly easier for a man to sing unless you have special pipes like Martin does!
I think I found Howard’s Note between C and B on the way down Check that out Here thank you The Mighty Boosh!
In Nashville I’ve had to get used to learning the number system for chord charts. it’s been a bit like learning a new language but it’s so much easier to change keys and follow arrangements once you’ve got your brain around it.
So anyway, I hope this is helpful, and to those that don’t play guitar, there’s some great stuff coming in the days ahead.
Trust you’re all getting excited for Christmas
peace
Joy (Taken with instagram)
Tools of the trade (Taken with instagram)
Advent with Stu g (and Rabbi Joseph Edelheit) Day 14
Time for another guest…
I met Rabbi Joseph Edelheit on a trip to India a few years ago. We met over lunch and hit it off immediately. I had just read a book by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner and was thrilled to talk with a real life Rabbi…we’re still talking today and Karen and I truly value his friendship and insight.
I spent a couple of days with him at St Cloud State University earlier this year, where he is Professor of Religious and Jewish studies, talking and playing a concert with his students and demonstrating, I guess, our inter-faith dialogue.
I will talk more about our friendship and work another time, but I am privileged to get the chance to meet people from different backgrounds, and want to make space in my posts, to include these voices.
Joseph gave me permission to use these pieces of writing, and I will link them directly to where they have originally been hosted.
So here we are… originally posted on the Emergent Village blog here
I have taken a few excerpts of text that may get you thinking or even better talking.
Dialogue reminds us that we are not on our own…
Taken from - If the Last Supper was a Seder, then did Jesus celebrate Hannukah?
Joseph Edelheit
“When I introduce the Hebrew Bible to students who think they are taking a course in the Old Testament, I write four words on the board: Hebrews, Israelites, Jews and Israelis. I explain that these are not the same people and I will expect them to understand the when and why of each term.”
“This is the period of the year many Jews experience the “December Dilemma”! Depending on the actual community in which they (the Jews) live, they might be such a minority that they are literally overwhelmed by Christmas, and their observance of Hannukah is actually hidden. It is tough being a small voice trying to be heard as distinct with all of the white noise of Christmas music filling every single possible sound wave.”
“So we can feel secure that Hannukah will not eclipse Christmas. Unless of course, we are honest that both festivals are brilliant attempts by the leaders of early post-Jesus Christianity and early rabbinic Judaism to push back against the popular Winter Solstice celebrations that brought light into the darkest time of the year.”
“Christmas is an amazing sacred affirmation of a messianic promise and now an economic and popular cultural period of needed communal and family celebrations. It is not necessary for Christians to stop and worry about reframing their Christmas wishes every time they think they are engaging a Jew, and it is not appropriate for Jews to adopt nor syncretize Christmas into Hannukah…so can we all agree that putting Stars of David on Christmas Trees is a bit much? For the many interfaith families, this can be a painful and stressful period of always being “unrequited” and the December Dilemma is very real and should not be dismissed as a mere sociological experience. For some Jews, this is an annual time of being reminded constantly that being a Jew requires a resilient identity.”
The complete text can be seen here
Joseph Edelheit, is a Reform Rabbi—retired from Temple Israel, Minneapolis in 2001—and now Director and Professor of Religious and Jewish Studies at St Cloud State University. His D Min is in Christian Theology from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. He is a founding Director of Living India an NGO doing HIV/AIDS work in rural India.
