Nate Houge

I tune and New Tune

nate — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:45:14 +0000

Hey – Becoming Liturgy, that hit acoustic liturgical sensation that’s sweeping the nation is now available on I Tunes. Just go to the I Tunes store and search for Houge and there it is, along with my kids cd, my brother’s power pop ep with the hit single Love On TV and Don’s quintet. You know Don… the guy with those other four guys?

Also I had a chance to record some acoustic lap steel with Joel and Aimee Pakan back in January and the song is up for a free download on their website, www.tangledblue.com with the story of how the song came to be. My acoustic lap steel also appears on Becoming Liturgy, and yes the steven’s steel I played with used to belong to Ben Harper. Kind of. Or at least he stole it from his grandpa and handed it to the guy I bought my lap steel from. But it was in his posession allright? So get off my back and listen to some music already.

calm

nate — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:24:55 +0000

Twice today, in two different locations I saw this billboard:
Life Moves Fast. Don’t Miss A Thing. Palm.

For a number of reasons my reply is
Lives Moves Fast. That’s okay. Calm.

Because the folks I want to be most like tend to miss all kinds of things in life, just not the important things like hugging their wife, being patient with their kids, and being their for their friends. If I could do those things and miss the rest I’d be just fine. Say no to Palm. Say yes to Calm.

kill your web site

nate — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:45:58 +0000

I temporarily suspend my hiatus status for the greater good of the world.I just spent 20 minutes looking at websites of local Lutheran churches in hopes of finding a morning Ash Wednesday service. Here’s what I have to say. Church web sites stink! I know I’m biased but my home congregation was the only website that was clean, clear, up to date, and informative. One other website had a calendar that was up to date and all of them had way too much (mostly outdated) information and horrible organization. Sheesh! Who do they think they are? Natehouge.com?Back to hiatus. Nate.And no, I have no idea why I thought this post would make the world a better place. My bad.

Hiatus

nate — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:08:04 +0000

Check back in March.

Music and Movement 2010

nate — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:04:35 +0000

Session Four Song Sheet (PDF)Another session is upon us! Here’s the song sheet. Sadly there will be no audio accompaniment due to general upheaval in the Houge family basement finishing extravaganza of 2010.

annunciation, resignation

nate — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 07:04:07 +0000

listening to bottle rockets brand new year. back home from ringing in the new year with wife, brother, kjel, amy, and a lot of neighbors at skinners… one time my brother in law said you know you’ve had too much to drink when you lose your ations – innunciations, pronunciations, etc… so driving home a song came on the radio and i say, ‘is this death cab for cutie?’ and my brother says, ‘i was wondering the same thing with all of that over innunciation.’ and being still headlong into this joyous christmas tide i thought he said over-annunciation which lead to the two of us yelling with perfect innunciation things like, ‘an angel came to the town of nazareth, to a woman whose name was mary…’ and so on and soon it led to the converse and we pondered under annunciation. ’so some celestial being came to this lady and was like a kid will be born, god, probably you’re going to be the mom, but whatev, city of dave, blah blah blah…’no segue.so in 2010 i will be fitter, thinner, eat less crap, drink less booze, play more guitar, finish the basement, set up my pedal steel, be a patient dad, supportive husband, role model to underprivileged kids everywhere, do more laundry, don’t do more laundry (my wife hates it when i dry stuff that’s not supposed to be dried and she has to buy it again – though i say if you can’t dry it don’t buy it – but no one listens to me), be more listened to, write more letters, cuddle more kittens, be nice to the nice guys and mean to the mean in my dreams, stand up to the evil el guapo, tell my family i love them, (i just told my family i love them so i can check that off pronto) celebrate my accomplishments, appreciate my brother for not being a dj but rather for being an electronic musician (not that he’s electronic but his music often depends on alternating current) (but that doesn’t make it alternative, that makes it electronic), use moisturizing lotion to get rid of the obnoxious dry skin back itch that i often have in mn during the winter of my discontent (are you wearing a doily?) make shorter more manageable lists, keep it chill, keep it tight, keep it real, keep it real tight and chill, give it away, give it away, give it away, give it away now, blog more, spend less time blogging, buy sensible shoes, spend more time logging, log less, unless it’s sustainable logging, help someone who needs help by finding a helpful person to help them in a helpful sustainable way, go on vacation and not feel like the most relaxing and fulfilling thing i can do is work, cop out on vacation and do relaxing and fulfilling things that i love and sometimes get paid for (work for instance), stop contradicting myself in my futile underread blogs, congratulate those who actually make it through my nonsensical rantings, stop basing my self worth on the basis of comments, come to grips with the fact that my mom e-mails me with the preface, ‘i was going to comment on your blog, but it’s probably not cool that you’re mom comments on your blog more than anyone else so i thought i’d just e-mail you,’ write my mom more often so that my blog is not our number one means of communication, write shorter blogs, know when a good ending line is present and claim it, listen to more bottle rockets, and of course there’s more but i’m already intimidated and giving up at the monstrosity of this list, and chances are you quit reading lines and lines ago because it’s boring and chances are you didn’t even read that line because you gave up lines and lines ago because it’s boring and chances are…

Julekake

nate — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:03:05 +0000

Julekake. Because Norwegians need more butter and sugar in their diet. I was going to make stollen to embrace my German roots as well but yesterday started with caramel rolls and Jodi put a moratorium on sweet breads.

Merr

nate — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:33:19 +0000

Live From Bethlehem

nate — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:06:10 +0000

Insert a manger, Ben Houge on Piano, Graham Peterson on Drums, Justin Rimbo on Bass, and me with guitar and that’s what Trinity Lutheran in Jeffers MN looked like on Saturday night.

The altar area was all set up for Sunday morning’s christmas program which made for a fun backdrop for a great night of music and conversation. We were welcomed graciously and fed well by this incredibly giving congregation. I had met the Meier family from Jeffers at Outlaw Ranch last summer and when I was looking for a place to play they took us in whole heartedly! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

After playing we drove on to Sioux Falls staying with Pr. Jeff Sorenson’s family – thankfully they were still up to show us to our beds when we arrived. Sunday morning we did a bit during the service at Messiah New Hope and then did a full concert after a delicious meatball lunch. Oh, and did I mention there was a bakesale? Helloooo lefse! Once again, it was the sunday of the christmas program so once again we played around the manger. There were a handful of members from the congregation that I had met back in October while leading music at a ELCA Region 3 event. It was good to see these new friends once again and see what had been percolating in the congreagation since last we met.

Thank you to these congregations and so many others that support the arts and allow folks like myself to continue doing what we do. And of course thanks to Ben, Graham, and Justin, nothing beats travelling and working with people you love!

Now I’m going to bunker down and await the Christ child. If you need me I’ll be by the fireplace. Happy Advent from Bethlehem to you.

bike by popular demand… and by choice

nate — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:16:28 +0000

It’s wednesday morning, 15 degrees, and lots of snow. not a ton of snow, but lots of snow. If I had to be somewhere miles away i would’ve driven, but since i only had a mile to go, and quite honestly didn’t know if the scion would make it through the unplowed streets i took my bike. it was not efficient, it was not convenient, but it was fun. very very fun. Few things are more satisfying than making the first tracks of the day. can i get an amen?