Conquerors

Heaven Knows

Little Wretches Release New Album

                         

 Red Beets and Horseradish 

by

The Little Wretches

RED BEETS AND HORSERADISH is inspired by a relish or side-dish usually served around the holidays of Easter or Passover by various ethnicities of Eastern Europe. For the Serbs, for example, the red of the beets is symbolic of the blood of their people, and the horseradish the bitterness of their suffering. For others, the symbolism involves the blood of their savior and the bitterness of His suffering. People in the Jewish tradition also enjoy the dish, but there is no blood involved—the beets are merely for flavor—but the horseradish does represent the memory of bitter suffering in bondage.

The songs on the album involve vignettes and portraits of people who’ve suffered—old people, sick people, crazy people, people who are alone—but the heart of the songs lies not in the suffering of the characters but in the indomitable faith and humor that sustains them.

The introductory track to the album, Rise, sets the tone and theme of the collection with a folksy and upbeat ballad that offers promise straight up in the face of adversity:

Rise from your slumber

Days without number

Wait for you

Shake off your losses

So many causes 

to put your shoulder to

It’s time to mend

Time to turn the next bend

We depend on you to harmonize

so Rise

Rise

Next comes the song, Lovingkindness, which begins with a harmonica intro hook that blends into a pleasing and catchy melody accentuated by lyrics that glorify the personal praise and testimony of a soul grateful to the God of Creation who is fearsome yet loving and kind to those who He has purchased through His sacrifice on the cross in Christ Jesus.

The third track, Palms & Crosses, picks up the beat somewhat with the drums and electric guitar sounds, and it is a song that seems a bit ironic regarding our Lord's passion at Calvary:

One week palms, joy and praise, 

Hearts are lifted, voices raised

Next week nails and crowns of thorns

The mother of God herself will mourn

The chorus line to the song is my favorite: "All I know is that tomorrow will decide what yesterday means!" And it's a good application of gospel doctrine that should be exercised by every believer who walks in faith and not by sight.

Winter's Grace is a beautiful ballad,  written by Annette Dietz and performed by Rosa Colucci, that is almost existential in its sympathy and awareness of human limitations in the face of adversity but yet we try: 

My friend lives in a deserted mine, 

He wears brokenness like a cloak.

My friend lives in a deserted mine, 

He wears brokenness like a cloak.

My friend lives in a deserted mine.  

Tonight, we walk to the quiet shrine

The moon settles onto my upturned palm

With a brilliant dusting of snow.(A brilliant dusting of snow.)

Some days the best I can do Is clear a path for light.   

       

Heaven Was Open, is a song that speaks of "seeing the light" and offers a comparison between unseen spiritual realities and the fallen visible world and the Lord is to be praised for this eye opening experience (of course).

Old Hundredth, is partially based on an old Isaac Watts hymn with modifications and is probably my favorite track on the prolific album which totals thirteen songs. It is modern and moving with timeless words of strength and encouragement:

Eternal are Thy mercies, Lord

Eternal truth attends Thy word

Though mist and shadow all around

I’ll set my feet on solid ground

 Solid ground, Solid ground

 Solid ground

The final song, It's All Between Me and God, is a great outro song to the album that makes anyone who has spent time plying the path to eternity to pause, look out the window and reflect upon the wonderful (and sometimes frightening) aspects of salvation. And in the final analysis, this might be a good way to sum up the concept behind the entire collection of Red Beets and Horseradish -- a thoughtful musical journey through trials and tribulations of both a personal and social nature that keenly reflect the Christian experience. Do give a listen!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY OF THE CD!!!

RED BEETS & HORSERADISH BY THE LITTLE WRETCHES, THE NEW ALBUM IS HERE ON MARCH 18, 2022 

Click here to order a

Robert Wagner of Little Wretches

(photo by Melinda Pietrusza)

ROBERT A. WAGNER - THE LITTLEST WRETCH

My songs are mirrors, and I often begin or end my performances by

playing a version of The Velvet Underground’s “I’ll Be Your Mirror”

extended to more than ten-minutes in length to include some of the

images that most shaped my view of the world as a young

man—working men and women enslaved in pursuit of the dollar, the

now-vacant void from whence the spirit fled filled with the distraction of

mindless entertainment, alcohol and assorted drugs, people so numb

that self-destructive violence has lost its impact and the only way they

can hope to feel anything is to hurt the people they love.

Having descended from Slovakian immigrants that sought fortune in

the once-booming steel towns of Western Pennsylvania, I elect to

portray the lives of those around me—family, friends, community,

work. In literature and art, working class characters tend to appear as

comic relief or in the form of the noble savage.  They are cast as

victims, oppressed and betrayed. Personally, I'm sick of Tom Joad. I

hold my characters accountable.

If you sell your soul for money, don’t come crying that you got a bad

deal.

I don’t suppose I’ll ever be accused of telling people what they want to

hear. Then again, I’ve crafted some rather compelling musical portraits

of my grandparents and parents, my sister and brother, my neighbors,

closest friends and fellow travelers. There’s a considerable portion of

love and compassion in these songs, though a lot of people tell me I

sound angry.

I’m not angry; I just enjoy a good fight.

As a kid, I idolized Popeye, Mighty Mouse and Bruno Sammartino. I

ran around the neighborhood, an empty can of spinach stuffed under

my shirt and a corncob pipe between my teeth, a super-hero’s cape in

the form of a bath towel pinned to my shoulders as I defended the

weak and battled the evil-doers of my imagination.

I also loved music. My older cousin said The Beatles were the best

musicians because they wrote their own songs, so he and I built

guitars from scraps of plywood, two-by-fours, nails and rubber bands

and started writing our own songs.

My Catholic parents sent me to St. Anne’s School, where I learned

that we can only be happy when we do what God asks of us. The

nuns taught that God has a special purpose for each of us, and we will

know that purpose by the joy we feel when we’re fulfilling it.

God wanted me to grow up to defend the weak and vanquish the evil-

doers by writing songs and telling stories.

And if I’m wrong, I’ve wasted my life.

NO SHELTER - PRECURSOR TO THE LITTLE WRETCHES

No Shelter was co-founded by John Creighton and Robert A. Wagner

while drinking beer in the Squirrel Hill Cafe the night before The

Pittsburgh Steelers faced the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl.

Wagner was battling cancer and wasn't sure he was going to live.

Creighton was depressed and wasn't sure he had a reason to live.

Both loved music and agreed that starting a band was the key to

survival. 

No Shelter was part of the first generation of Pittsburgh-area

punk bands. The single Brooks Robinson's Camp / Soldier Boy was

considered a breakthrough for the scene; raising the bar for quality

and production-values and combining powerful lyrics, expressive

performance and a compassionate world-view. Brooks Robinson's

Camp is the transcribed monologue/rant of a deranged man in the

24-hour fast food restaurant where band-members used to drink

coffee and talk. The ascendancy of President Ronald Reagan led to

the cutting of social programs for the mentally ill, rendering people like

the narrator Brooks Robinson's Camp homeless.

THE EARLY WRETCHES - FOLK/PUNK PIONEERS

The Little Wretches was co-founded by brothers Robert Andrew and

Charles John Wagner. Bob wrote original songs and adapted

traditional folk songs, tried to sing and accompanied himself on guitar

while Chuckie worked out counterpoint melodies on violin. Chuckie

and Bob were joined by former members of No Shelter, Ed Heidel on

bass guitar and John Creighton on flute, percussion and background

vocals. Religious missionary Chris Bruckhoff was attracted to the

group because a lot of the songs seemed to have spiritual content,

and he apparently believed he could recruit the members of The Little

Wretches into his church by infiltrating the band. Like John Creighton,

Chris sang background vocals and played various percussion and

wind instruments. Bob Goetz played electric guitar and did some

singing. Deena Alansky took pictures, tried to book gigs, and pasted

posters all over town. The original line-up of The Little Wretches

debuted at The New Group Theater (founded by Martin Giles in the

spirit of the legendary progressive theater company, The Group

Theater) along with the godfathers of the Pittsburgh hard-core scene,

The Five. The earliest version of The Little Wretches came to an end

with the sudden death of John Creighton. John never considered

himself an actual member of The Little Wretches (he was just helping

out), but he was so much a part of the group's sound and persona that

his loss was devastating.

BORN WITH A GIFT - THE CLASSIC ERA

The Little Wretches went straight rock adding Dave Mitchell on

drums, Mike Michalski on bass, and Ellen Hildebrand on electric

guitar. This generation of The Little Wretches played so often at The

Electric Banana, central venue of the Pittsburgh underground, that

many came to regard them as the house-band. The Little Wretches

felt otherwise and eventually stopped performing at The Banana.

Robert Wagner said, "Being content to be the house-band at The

Electric Banana is like a family being content to live on welfare and

food-stamps".  Michalski, who later founded The Heretics and The

Kelly Affair and produced recordings for Rusted Root and Get Hip

Records, described his time in The Little Wretches as like going to

rock school, " Hundreds of bootleg recordings were made by friends

and fans of the band."

 The theme-song of the era was Born With A

Gift, and songs like Thanks for Saving My Life,The Taste of Dirt, Who Is America, Let Me Play Your Guitar sound as vital today

as they day they were written. This generation of The Little Wretches

ended with the departures of Mike Michalski, Dave Mitchell, and

Chuckie Wagner.

ALTHOUGH IN THE FUTURE, THEY'LL

SAY THESE WERE DARK TIMES -

MAYBE NEXT TIME, MAYBE NEXT TIME

David Losi had been living in Atlanta, performing in groups like Sexy

Up and B-49. He dropped in on a Little Wretches recording session

while in Pittsburgh to visit his family, played piano on the entire

session, and decided to return to Pittsburgh to join the band. Losi was

unembarrassedly Beatles-esque could KILL with harmonies, ballads

and raw rock vocals. Mike Madden was/is one of the best rock

drummers--period. When The Little Wretches performed at The

Decade, the legendary Pittsburgh rock club graced by Springsteen,

David Johansen and any number of blues heroes, the club's manager

asked, "Where'd you get that guy? He's the best drummer to come

through here in years!" Unfortunately, Mike was raising a family and

unable to tour, so The Little Wretches had to look elsewhere for a

drummer. Gregg Bielski, a friend and fan of The Little Wretches, had

been attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania and generating an

awesome body of work as the founder of Shrink Wrap (see G. G.

Allin). Gregg had been working with tapes and drum-programs, started

collaborating with drummerless The Wretches, and soon began

performing with the band. Ellen Hildebrand switched from guitar to

bass, and this new version of The Little Wretches went into the studio

to create JUST ANOTHER NAIL IN MY COFFIN and THIS TIME THE

REBELLION WEEPS, and a modified version of this band (with

Angelo George on drums and Jon Paul Leone on guitar) recorded

THE LITTLE WRETCHES. The band rehearsed and recreated at

Ellen's sheep farm in Clarksville PA, and a major breakthrough

seemed to be right around the corner as the band began to meet with

lawyers, managers and publicists. This generation of the The Little

Wretches passed when various band-members entered the season of

their lives that called for raising children and caring for families. Listen

to the recordings. Read the reviews.

THE FOLK POET - TELLING STORIES AND ASKING

QUESTIONS LIKE JESUS AND SOCRATES

I continue to perform solo and with small acoustic ensembles, usually

appearing at coffeehouses or small clubs. In addition to writing songs

and telling stories, I teach and counsel abused, neglected,

traumatized and court-adjudicated youth. (I have both Crip and Blood

bandanas hanging on my bedroom door, souvenirs from battle.) The

season of rock n roll having passed for The Little Wretches (It no

longer made sense to be carrying amplifiers and unloading trucks at

4:30 in the morning), I had a something of a rebirth after

hearing/seeing/studying the live-performances of Michelle Shocked,

Steve Earle and Peter Himmelman and the live-recordings of Phil

Ochs. I got involved with the songwriter's group at Calliope, The

Pittsburgh Folk Music Society back in the mid-nineties. With Gypsy-

jazzman James Hovan, I co-founded The Calliope Acoustic Open-

Stage at The Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, a weekly event that has lived

for going-on fifteen years. We also founded The Threepenny Opry

performance-series at The Starlite Lounge. I've managed to record

and release some pretty powerful stuff. I hope I get to meet you and

play for you someday. 

Sincerely, Robert A. Wagner The Little

Wretches

MAKE SURE TO VISIT THE BAND'S WEBSITE FOR THE FULL SCOOP AND LINKS TO MUSIC AT LITTLEWRETCHES.COM

Music Review: Red Beets and Horseradish by Little Wretches

 Red Beets and Horseradish 

by

The Little Wretches

RED BEETS AND HORSERADISH is inspired by a relish or side-dish usually served around the holidays of Easter or Passover by various ethnicities of Eastern Europe. For the Serbs, for example, the red of the beets is symbolic of the blood of their people, and the horseradish the bitterness of their suffering. For others, the symbolism involves the blood of their savior and the bitterness of His suffering. People in the Jewish tradition also enjoy the dish, but there is no blood involved—the beets are merely for flavor—but the horseradish does represent the memory of bitter suffering in bondage.

The songs on the album involve vignettes and portraits of people who’ve suffered—old people, sick people, crazy people, people who are alone—but the heart of the songs lies not in the suffering of the characters but in the indomitable faith and humor that sustains them.

The introductory track to the album, Rise, sets the tone and theme of the collection with a folksy and upbeat ballad that offers promise straight up in the face of adversity:

Rise from your slumber

Days without number

Wait for you

Shake off your losses

So many causes 

to put your shoulder to

It’s time to mend

Time to turn the next bend

We depend on you to harmonize

so Rise

Rise

Next comes the song, Lovingkindness, which begins with a harmonica intro hook that blends into a pleasing and catchy melody accentuated by lyrics that glorify the personal praise and testimony of a soul grateful to the God of Creation who is fearsome yet loving and kind to those who He has purchased through His sacrifice on the cross in Christ Jesus.

The third track, Palms & Crosses, picks up the beat somewhat with the drums and electric guitar sounds, and it is a song that seems a bit ironic regarding our Lord's passion at Calvary:

One week palms, joy and praise, 

Hearts are lifted, voices raised

Next week nails and crowns of thorns

The mother of God herself will mourn

The chorus line to the song is my favorite: "All I know is that tomorrow will decide what yesterday means!" And it's a good application of gospel doctrine that should be exercised by every believer who walks in faith and not by sight.

Winter's Grace is a beautiful ballad, written by Annette Dietz and performed by Rosa Colucci, that is almost existential in its sympathy and awareness of human limitations in the face of adversity but yet we try: 

My friend lives in a deserted mine, 

He wears brokenness like a cloak.

My friend lives in a deserted mine, 

He wears brokenness like a cloak.

My friend lives in a deserted mine.  

Tonight, we walk to the quiet shrine

The moon settles onto my upturned palm

With a brilliant dusting of snow.(A brilliant dusting of snow.)

Some days the best I can do Is clear a path for light.   

       

Heaven Was Open, is a song that speaks of "seeing the light" and offers a comparison between unseen spiritual realities and the fallen visible world and the Lord is to be praised for this eye opening experience (of course).

Old Hundredth, is partially based on an old Isaac Watts hymn with modifications and is probably my favorite track on the prolific album which totals thirteen songs. It is modern and moving with timeless words of strength and encouragement:

Eternal are Thy mercies, Lord

Eternal truth attends Thy word

Though mist and shadow all around

I’ll set my feet on solid ground

 Solid ground, Solid ground

 Solid ground

The final song, It's All Between Me and God, is a great outro song to the album that makes anyone who has spent time plying the path to eternity to pause, look out the window and reflect upon the wonderful (and sometimes frightening) aspects of salvation. And in the final analysis, this might be a good way to sum up the concept behind the entire collection of Red Beets and Horseradish -- a thoughtful musical journey through trials and tribulations of both a personal and social nature that keenly reflect the Christian experience. Do give a listen!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY OF THE CD!!!

RED BEETS & HORSERADISH BY THE LITTLE WRETCHES, THE NEW ALBUM IS HERE ON MARCH 18, 2022 

Click here to order a

Robert Wagner of Little Wretches

(photo by Melinda Pietrusza)

ROBERT A. WAGNER - THE LITTLEST WRETCH

My songs are mirrors, and I often begin or end my performances by

playing a version of The Velvet Underground’s “I’ll Be Your Mirror”

extended to more than ten-minutes in length to include some of the

images that most shaped my view of the world as a young

man—working men and women enslaved in pursuit of the dollar, the

now-vacant void from whence the spirit fled filled with the distraction of

mindless entertainment, alcohol and assorted drugs, people so numb

that self-destructive violence has lost its impact and the only way they

can hope to feel anything is to hurt the people they love.

Having descended from Slovakian immigrants that sought fortune in

the once-booming steel towns of Western Pennsylvania, I elect to

portray the lives of those around me—family, friends, community,

work. In literature and art, working class characters tend to appear as

comic relief or in the form of the noble savage.  They are cast as

victims, oppressed and betrayed. Personally, I'm sick of Tom Joad. I

hold my characters accountable.

If you sell your soul for money, don’t come crying that you got a bad

deal.

I don’t suppose I’ll ever be accused of telling people what they want to

hear. Then again, I’ve crafted some rather compelling musical portraits

of my grandparents and parents, my sister and brother, my neighbors,

closest friends and fellow travelers. There’s a considerable portion of

love and compassion in these songs, though a lot of people tell me I

sound angry.

I’m not angry; I just enjoy a good fight.

As a kid, I idolized Popeye, Mighty Mouse and Bruno Sammartino. I

ran around the neighborhood, an empty can of spinach stuffed under

my shirt and a corncob pipe between my teeth, a super-hero’s cape in

the form of a bath towel pinned to my shoulders as I defended the

weak and battled the evil-doers of my imagination.

I also loved music. My older cousin said The Beatles were the best

musicians because they wrote their own songs, so he and I built

guitars from scraps of plywood, two-by-fours, nails and rubber bands

and started writing our own songs.

My Catholic parents sent me to St. Anne’s School, where I learned

that we can only be happy when we do what God asks of us. The

nuns taught that God has a special purpose for each of us, and we will

know that purpose by the joy we feel when we’re fulfilling it.

God wanted me to grow up to defend the weak and vanquish the evil-

doers by writing songs and telling stories.

And if I’m wrong, I’ve wasted my life.

NO SHELTER - PRECURSOR TO THE LITTLE WRETCHES

No Shelter was co-founded by John Creighton and Robert A. Wagner

while drinking beer in the Squirrel Hill Cafe the night before The

Pittsburgh Steelers faced the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl.

Wagner was battling cancer and wasn't sure he was going to live.

Creighton was depressed and wasn't sure he had a reason to live.

Both loved music and agreed that starting a band was the key to

survival. 

No Shelter was part of the first generation of Pittsburgh-area

punk bands. The single Brooks Robinson's Camp / Soldier Boy was

considered a breakthrough for the scene; raising the bar for quality

and production-values and combining powerful lyrics, expressive

performance and a compassionate world-view. Brooks Robinson's

Camp is the transcribed monologue/rant of a deranged man in the

24-hour fast food restaurant where band-members used to drink

coffee and talk. The ascendancy of President Ronald Reagan led to

the cutting of social programs for the mentally ill, rendering people like

the narrator Brooks Robinson's Camp homeless.

THE EARLY WRETCHES - FOLK/PUNK PIONEERS

The Little Wretches was co-founded by brothers Robert Andrew and

Charles John Wagner. Bob wrote original songs and adapted

traditional folk songs, tried to sing and accompanied himself on guitar

while Chuckie worked out counterpoint melodies on violin. Chuckie

and Bob were joined by former members of No Shelter, Ed Heidel on

bass guitar and John Creighton on flute, percussion and background

vocals. Religious missionary Chris Bruckhoff was attracted to the

group because a lot of the songs seemed to have spiritual content,

and he apparently believed he could recruit the members of The Little

Wretches into his church by infiltrating the band. Like John Creighton,

Chris sang background vocals and played various percussion and

wind instruments. Bob Goetz played electric guitar and did some

singing. Deena Alansky took pictures, tried to book gigs, and pasted

posters all over town. The original line-up of The Little Wretches

debuted at The New Group Theater (founded by Martin Giles in the

spirit of the legendary progressive theater company, The Group

Theater) along with the godfathers of the Pittsburgh hard-core scene,

The Five. The earliest version of The Little Wretches came to an end

with the sudden death of John Creighton. John never considered

himself an actual member of The Little Wretches (he was just helping

out), but he was so much a part of the group's sound and persona that

his loss was devastating.

BORN WITH A GIFT - THE CLASSIC ERA

The Little Wretches went straight rock adding Dave Mitchell on

drums, Mike Michalski on bass, and Ellen Hildebrand on electric

guitar. This generation of The Little Wretches played so often at The

Electric Banana, central venue of the Pittsburgh underground, that

many came to regard them as the house-band. The Little Wretches

felt otherwise and eventually stopped performing at The Banana.

Robert Wagner said, "Being content to be the house-band at The

Electric Banana is like a family being content to live on welfare and

food-stamps".  Michalski, who later founded The Heretics and The

Kelly Affair and produced recordings for Rusted Root and Get Hip

Records, described his time in The Little Wretches as like going to

rock school, " Hundreds of bootleg recordings were made by friends

and fans of the band."

 The theme-song of the era was Born With A

Gift, and songs like Thanks for Saving My Life,The Taste of Dirt, Who Is America, Let Me Play Your Guitar sound as vital today

as they day they were written. This generation of The Little Wretches

ended with the departures of Mike Michalski, Dave Mitchell, and

Chuckie Wagner.

ALTHOUGH IN THE FUTURE, THEY'LL

SAY THESE WERE DARK TIMES -

MAYBE NEXT TIME, MAYBE NEXT TIME

David Losi had been living in Atlanta, performing in groups like Sexy

Up and B-49. He dropped in on a Little Wretches recording session

while in Pittsburgh to visit his family, played piano on the entire

session, and decided to return to Pittsburgh to join the band. Losi was

unembarrassedly Beatles-esque could KILL with harmonies, ballads

and raw rock vocals. Mike Madden was/is one of the best rock

drummers--period. When The Little Wretches performed at The

Decade, the legendary Pittsburgh rock club graced by Springsteen,

David Johansen and any number of blues heroes, the club's manager

asked, "Where'd you get that guy? He's the best drummer to come

through here in years!" Unfortunately, Mike was raising a family and

unable to tour, so The Little Wretches had to look elsewhere for a

drummer. Gregg Bielski, a friend and fan of The Little Wretches, had

been attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania and generating an

awesome body of work as the founder of Shrink Wrap (see G. G.

Allin). Gregg had been working with tapes and drum-programs, started

collaborating with drummerless The Wretches, and soon began

performing with the band. Ellen Hildebrand switched from guitar to

bass, and this new version of The Little Wretches went into the studio

to create JUST ANOTHER NAIL IN MY COFFIN and THIS TIME THE

REBELLION WEEPS, and a modified version of this band (with

Angelo George on drums and Jon Paul Leone on guitar) recorded

THE LITTLE WRETCHES. The band rehearsed and recreated at

Ellen's sheep farm in Clarksville PA, and a major breakthrough

seemed to be right around the corner as the band began to meet with

lawyers, managers and publicists. This generation of the The Little

Wretches passed when various band-members entered the season of

their lives that called for raising children and caring for families. Listen

to the recordings. Read the reviews.

THE FOLK POET - TELLING STORIES AND ASKING

QUESTIONS LIKE JESUS AND SOCRATES

I continue to perform solo and with small acoustic ensembles, usually

appearing at coffeehouses or small clubs. In addition to writing songs

and telling stories, I teach and counsel abused, neglected,

traumatized and court-adjudicated youth. (I have both Crip and Blood

bandanas hanging on my bedroom door, souvenirs from battle.) The

season of rock n roll having passed for The Little Wretches (It no

longer made sense to be carrying amplifiers and unloading trucks at

4:30 in the morning), I had a something of a rebirth after

hearing/seeing/studying the live-performances of Michelle Shocked,

Steve Earle and Peter Himmelman and the live-recordings of Phil

Ochs. I got involved with the songwriter's group at Calliope, The

Pittsburgh Folk Music Society back in the mid-nineties. With Gypsy-

jazzman James Hovan, I co-founded The Calliope Acoustic Open-

Stage at The Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, a weekly event that has lived

for going-on fifteen years. We also founded The Threepenny Opry

performance-series at The Starlite Lounge. I've managed to record

and release some pretty powerful stuff. I hope I get to meet you and

play for you someday. 

Sincerely, Robert A. Wagner The Little

Wretches

MAKE SURE TO VISIT THE BAND'S WEBSITE FOR THE FULL SCOOP AND LINKS TO MUSIC AT LITTLEWRETCHES.COM

Non Union Biblical Musicians

  [This is another segment in the Music in the Bible series which begins in Genesis and finishes in Revelation.]

image source: hrchamber.com

However there were not made for the house of the Lord basins of silver, trimmers, sprinkling-bowls, trumpets, any articles of gold or articles of silver, from the money brought into the house of the Lord. (2 Kings 12:13)

Although there were detailed methods of payments outlined for the temple builders under Solomon's reign, the craftsmen who fashioned trumpets (and most likely other musical instruments) were not mentioned in any formal agreement. The workmen who repaired and upgraded the temple got paid freely and honestly from the tithes required by the people. It must have been a time of great wealth and prosperity and nobody felt the need to cheat or swindle in order to receive appropriate compensation for their work. When everybody prospers, there is no need for greed or unions to prevent exploitation of employees. Even Karl Marx would be envious of such conditions.

Now some have argued that Christianity is a kind of communism or socialism exampled by the distribution of good as told in the Book of Acts (Acts 4:35) but that sharing of personal wealth was all done voluntarily out of genuine love for the brethren which is proof of conversion into the kingdom of Christ (1 John 3:14). Marxism is forced distribution of wealth which not everyone is happy with except those who implement policy and those at the very bottom who benefit from it only slightly. God's plan for a Right to Work paradise is way beyond that and has no comparison in the earthly realm. And that's how they'll know we are Christians--by our love.

Guitar World for God

[This is another segment in the Music in the Bible series which begins in Genesis and finishes in Revelation.]

source: guitarworld.com

And the king made steps of the almug wood for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers. There never again came such almug wood, nor has the like been seen to this day. (1 Kings 10:12)

Solomon enriched every aspect of the earthly kingdom of Israel ordained and blessed by God including lavishly supporting the temple musicians and funding and creating for them the best musical instruments that money could buy from the best materials that could be found.

Every serious musician knows that a good quality instrument motivates practice and playing and lends an edge to a performance that the audience will appreciate. After all (as the saying goes) you can't make silk out of a sow's ear. 

In today's highly interconnected world, it's easy to find the best guitar, harp or whatever by doing a Google search and ordering delivery to your doorstep. Not in Solomon's day. Merchants often risked their lives in caravans that troubled through rugged lands and climates to find priceless woods and other materials that the precise requirements for temple related construction and adornment demanded. Solomon's find and use of almug wood must have cost a pretty penny in blood and treasure but the wise king spared no expense or life in his plans and efforts to glorify Israel before the nations of the world. 

Teen Gospel Singer Katelynn McKinney

                                

Teen singer/songwriter Katelyn McKinney

Visit and subscribe to hear new music:

patientchill.com

King Solomon-God's Lucky Songbird

 [This is another segment in the Music in the Bible series which begins in Genesis and finishes in Revelation.]

image source: worldhistoryedu.com

 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. (1 Kings 4:32)

People respect, or are at least fascinated by, a prolific artist. Add to that energy wisdom, wealth and ladies by the score, you have the envy and admiration of the world.

God blessed Solomon, King David's son, tremendously because when the Lord asked him what one thing he wished for before ascending the throne, he requested wisdom. Our Heavenly Father seems to respect and respond in gracious abundance to petitioners who are honest and humble. Witness Jesus' response when a Canaanite woman, who was outside of our Lord's earthly ministry mission at the time, pestered and begged him to release her daughter from demon control. He replied:

"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

But the woman's quick retort about 'even dogs get to eat crumbs at their master's table," gained his respect and he granted her wish. Way to think on your feet! (Matthew 15:22-28)

The Almighty gave us critical reasoning powers to use and when we do so for His purposes, He is pleased and rewards beyond our imaginations. Solomon's wisdom has been recorded in Scripture in song, judgments and lyric. His brilliance (and Israel's rich splendor as a kingdom) was spoke of throughout the known world at the time. Even the Queen of Sheba made the arduous and long journey to be granted an audience with him. What a lucky man!

Emerson, Lake and Palmer Live