Nate Houge

I’ve been doing some ‘liturgical consulting’ lately and driving around in my car more than normal. I saw a funny road sign yesterday on 494. It said, “DWI Arrest Zone” which begs the question, Are there zones where you won’t be arrested for DWI? I’m a writer, not an editor, but all the same I’m guessing there are better ways of phrasing the question.
I’m gearing up for a lot of music this fall – a few of the dates are posted, a few aren’t. There’s been a ton of good feedback from the Becoming Liturgy CD which is great. In September I get to be the song leader at my home congregation, Humble Walk. I’m a big fan of common song and hymnals, but since I’m a songwriter it seems like a great chance to share what I do with the congregation so I’ve been putting together a liturgy for the month. There are a few songs from Becoming Liturgy, a song that I wrote for our families advent devo’s four years ago and had forgotten about and then there are a couple new ones as well.
I get to do a guest blog about the liturgy over on Humble Walks website but I will share a couple things I’m stoked about.
1 – I’ll play it all on lap dulcimer and lap steel. Originally I was going to call it the Laptop Liturgy because of this. Which would be funny because people would think there would be technology involved and that perhaps I was going to be doing some hip club dj thing. But no, as is usually the case it’s wood and steel strings for this guy. Luddite approved. Luddite Liturgy.
2. But no, it’s not luddite liturgy. It’s the Little Liturgy. Or perhaps I will call it, In the Folds of Liturgy. Because I’m basing the bulletins construction on a way of folding paper that I learned a few years ago while writing Spark Sunday School curriculum for Augsburg Fortress. So there will be paper manipulation during the service. So all you cynics that say the church is manipulative… you’re right! And you are welcome to come manipulate with us and shake off a little of that bitterness that I myself know all too well.
3. There will be movement. I’m not a dancer. But I choreographed a fifth grade musical once and it went okay. So I’m going to do that again and we’ll have a little square dance inspired communion action. As my friend Kjellgren once sang, The frozen chosen are about to thaw.
So that’s what’s on my mind. That and the need for kids to wear helmets. Especially when they’re on their bicycles. Really parents, insist on it. It’s not just the law, it’s their noggins on the line.
noggin on heaven’s door.
Oh, and me and justin and graham have drums and bass down for the next Nate Houge album. check back on that in 2011.

And to think, some kids are stuck playing the piano.  Watch out Lloyd, Elsa’s on her way.

Here it is.  My new tour bus.  It’s the xtracycle free radical kit. I tried it out last night for the inaugural ride to Augustana Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.  I had the honor of playing for an ELCA mission training event.  There were about 150 pastors from all over North America joining to learn how to better serve their communities with the gospel.  That’s a powerful thing.   And stinky ol’ me got to lead them in song.  In a decision based on simplicity and personal challenge I decided a few days ago to lead all the songs without any printed materials.  No hymnals, song sheets, powerpoints, tag boards etc…  And it worked wonderfully.  Of course in no small part to the fact that there were 150 worship leaders in the room.

I’m looking forward to putting more miles on this bike.  The round trip last night was just under 20 miles which was a nice test ride distance.  About 3 weeks ago I played at Edina Community Lutheran Church which was also about 20 miles round trip and I did that with my guitar and merch in a burley trailer.  Comparing the two rides I will say that traveling with an xtracycle is way easier for a couple of reasons.  Better handling.  Narrower load.  Both of these things are way important when cruising in the city.  Of course on family outings when handling and width aren’t an option there’s always what my kids refer to as the dinosaur train:

Lydia rides the tag-a-long, and elsa sits in the trailer/trunk with the groceries or whatever we’re hauling.  I think contraptions like this explain my excessive drive train wear.

Here’s the deal with riding bikes though.  It’s contagious and it only gets easier.  It doesn’t have to be intimidating or le tour-esque.  The xtracycle free radical kit is pricey, but I put it on a bike I got for free off craig’s list.  Not perfect, but it works.  (Actually the frame was free, the bar end shifter and seat I got from my friend Jim ‘century’ Welton and the handlebars that could accommodate bar end shifters are from Hiawatha Cyclery.  And while we’re giving mad props, I purchased the extension kit from Capital Deals in West St. Paul, where Alex and his wife are tops and the two mechanics are MK’s like me.  But much younger.  PS  when did i get old?)  (oh yeah, and the brake levers and rear cassette are from the greatest used parts store in St. Paul, Express Bike Shop)

Where was I?  Oh yes, bikes are great.  Living in the country’s most bikable city doesn’t hurt – I’m constantly amazed at how many trails are out there to navigate the cities and there are more bike lanes every day.  I also think that drivers are getting more bike friendly.  I’ve had way fewer rude interactions and way more thumbs up this summer.  So go ride your bike.  And if you want to check out my xtracycle come over and take it for a spin.  And if you buy the kit and need a hand I’ll help you put it together – it’s that great and I want that much for you to drive less and bike more.

And that’s the last blog for a few weeks.  I’m off to camp in ID.  I’ll drive to the airport fly in a jet plane take a two hour drive in a big old pickup and buy bigger shoes to fit my carbon footprint and help balance my big head.  All in moderation people, all in moderation.

Brush your teeth kids. It’s not like I don’t, but sheesh, I just got a crown and I’ve got the bank account to prove it. I once thought it would be interesting to book shows and ask the host to choose their level of honorarium by saying what the money would go to. So instead of asking for 100 dollars I would say, A weeks worth of groceries. Of course for larger ticket items like this crown I think I would to think bigger – I’ve never had a gig that could cover this cost. It needs a tour.
So if you see Nate Houge’s Crown him with many crowns tour coming to your town, please show up.

But I like this guy.

And I like his approach to touring

And I like the xtracycle.  It’s a great company doing great things.

And so I started stripping an old mountain bike yesterday with the intent to add the free radical so as to have my very own tour bus.

Pretty much only a stubborn bottom bracket is standing between and my dreams realized.

Go to Becoming Liturgy under the Music tab and voila!  The updated songbook is there.   If you need bulletin inserts just e-mail me.  Sing it up folks.

Or, to frame it in the positive:  I love giving things away.  I love the free section on Craig’s list.  I love putting money in the offering, treating for coffee, getting paid for doing what I love.  Outside of the Gospels few things in the Bible attract me more than reading about the early church (back when the connotation was a people – not an institution) selling everything and redistributing the wealth.
There’s a tension and a reality for artists to put a price on their creation.  There’s a consumer mentality in this country that the better deal is slowly being seen as the better product.  Well that’s baloney.  If you Google my name you can find places to stream my music for free.  (Um, not that I’ve ever Googled my name. Donde esta humility?) I think you can even download the album Folk Star for free off of one of these sites – you could at one time, at least.
It’s no longer stealing, it’s rolling back prices.  It’s not uncommon for folks to go to the library, pick up a dozen CD’s, put them on itunes and return them.  That’s not stealing, right?  I mean, our taxes paid for that.
Here’s the deal, if you can’t afford to give me something for the art I make, just ask me for it.
Money has an unGodly amount of power.  Ask our governor and the 3 teachers that were let go at my daughter’s school thanks to Pawlenty’s repeated abuse of power.
And the church has money too.  Have you seen the Vatican?  Have you seen Haiti?  Do you wonder why people call Christians hypocrites?
Artists – in my definition – have a job to be the seers and seekers of truth.  We gather and make known the beauty and pain of our common experiences.  Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s agitating, sometimes it comforts and sometimes it hurts.
At whatever level of competence I’m able to do this I’m extremely grateful for the churches, families, and non-profits that support me in this.  And yes I mean that financially.
In organized religion the organization often redistributes the wealth on behalf of the people.  There are positive things that happen.  For example, the ELCA is able to take a portion of that pool and do big things like join the Lutheran Malaria Initiative.  That’s huge, and makes me grateful for the hugeness of the organization.
But sometimes when the organization does the distributing we forget that it’s ‘our’ money that does that.  We get to give.  We get to free ourselves of the illusion that any of it was ours to begin with.  We do that when we give it away without condition.  We do that when we move into other (and in my book, more Christ-like) realms of stewardship like our time and our talent/vocation.
Maybe money is just a sign of our incredible lack of imagination in terms of loving our neighbor.
This is all on my mind as I prepare to tour on behalf of my Becoming Liturgy album this next year.  It’s church folk music.  Pete Seeger made albums in the hopes that people would not simply listen to them but be inspired to play the songs on their own instruments and write some too.  I want the same for this album.  I want people to sing at home and write Kyrie’s for their congregations.   And I don’t want money to get in the way.  And I want to continue making a living doing this.  There is tension.  So I’ve made some small decisions that serve me and my neighbor.  The Becoming Liturgy CD is my art.  And you love art and you want to support it.  So you’ll buy it.  Or you’re broke and ask me for a copy.  Or you think the ten commandments were merely suggestions and you copy a friends copy and never have another decent nights sleep as long as you live.  Or worse, you sleep great only to realize how comfortable you are stealing art.  Sucks to be you.
But there’s also a songbook that goes with the CD.  And that’s Creative Commons.  (Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike 3.0) That means you can print it off and use it for free.  You can put in your bulletin on Sunday morning and not pay a dime to CCLI or any publisher or even me.  You can adapt it, add a verse, change a pronoun,  or fix the melody line to sound like the album (I’m a folksinger, what can I say?).
Over the next week I’ll repost the songbook with this information in it.  And eventually I’ll post the bulletin insert sized versions as well.  Who knows?  If I get crazy, maybe I’ll even post the finale files and you can open and re/co create to your heart’s content.
And if you want to thank me, go ahead and send me some money.  Or better yet book me for a concert at your church and we’ll sing some songs.  And we’ll sing freely.

It seems like the whole digital download thing might actually take off. Well good, because now my first ‘real’ CD, Folkstar, is available on i tunes along with Becoming Liturgy and Mysterious Kung Fu Ninja and The Pink Princess of Pretty Pretty Land. And of course you can get them at CDBABY as well. Consumers Rule.

Hey!  Who knew?  Welaware will be playing once again this Friday, June 4th at 9pm.

We’ll be in a line up with Erik Ritland at 808MPLS.  It’s a new venue that I know very little about, but you too can learn a little at  http://www.facebook.com/#!/the808mpls?ref=ts. Even if you don’t have the Facebook you can still see it, and it’s the only site they have for now.

One thing I do know is that they don’t serve alcohol so that makes me think they might be all ages.  So if you’ve been wanting to damage your kids hearing, by all means bring ‘em out.

In other news, the Star Bar was an interesting affair.  Crazy Chester brought in a ton of folks and Welaware brought in more than expected – and we thank you!  Erik Ritland brought in more people than the Star Bar has probably ever seen at midnight on a Thursday.  At least that is my guess.  Making the music was great, but man there’s a reason I don’t actively seek out club shows anymore.

A note to club owners/bookers – nobody cares about your venue.  People want good music and a good atmosphere.  You can foster this by treating the bands well (and trust me that doesn’t take much) and running decent sound (that takes a bit more, but having the soundman within 50 feet of the board at some point during the set might be a start.  Oh, and teaching him/her what the knobs do wouldn’t hurt either)

To sum up – give the band a couple free drinks and a halfway’s decent soundman and your venue will succeed.  It’s why I’d play Station 4 over the 400 Bar any day.

But that’s just one mans opinion.

Erik Ritland  has a blog about the Star Bar – check it out here: http://www.blog.erikritland.com

Peace out, see you Friday.

This last Friday I had the distinct honor and privilege of being part of the St. Paul Area Synod Assembly.  I’m not one to give away secrets, but I’ll let you all in on my success as a musician.  I am continually surrounded by others who can teach me.  So it was for opening worship under the leadership of Mark Ertl and alongside the vocalists Sue, Bonnie, and Sean.  And then again in the evening as I led a vespers service with Justin Rimbo, Micah Taylor, and Jason & Erin DeBoer-Moran.

My song “Work of God” was featured in the morning and a slew of Humble Walk friends showed up to play hand drums on it as angel puppets (as seen in the photo) came dancing in.  Thanks to Heart of the Beast for making that possible!  In the evening I put together the vespers from my own music, including a sacred heart inspired arrangement of Psalm 141.  I was short a Magnificat so we used a Taize arrangement and the congregation hit it out of the park as they sang in a four part canon.

For someone like me who gets cynical anytime the church starts to look like big business it was a bit of stretch to be part of the assembly.  But to be present and to see the vitality of this group, to be part of this cloud of witnesses, to be made small, and to be loved… I’m filled with gratitude and a deep appreciation for the organized side of organized religion.

Thanks to Micah Taylor for once again taking photo documentation.