jars of clay

(this is a very late post, but for posterity's sake, i shall post this.)

jars of clay is a good band. they are not the best, but they are most definitely not the worst. they are just good. they play music that they believe in. they compose songs with a purpose in mind, a purpose to which everything comes second. and so long as they stick to this purpose, to this belief, to this overriding theme of universal truth expressed in childlike tones, they will to me be a good band.

when the band came to Cebu last february 28 (i told you this is a late post), most of the city did not know them except for some of their popular hits. popularity, after all, is never indicative of genius. but for the rest of us who 'knew' them, it was like a homecoming. finally, a sign that the universe does indeed look after us (zafra). finally, a validation.

i first 'met' joc last Christmas of 2002. nanie decided to give each blockmate a christmas present: a cd with 12 of our favorite songs. i couldn't decide what 12 songs to include, so i just played familiar tunes in my head. one of them was a repetitive song i heard somewhere and began to like immediately - unforgetful you.

while listening to the song, i couldn't help but notice the undoubtable Christian theme. "i never minded calling you a king/ if that meant that i could count on you to give me everything". "you never minded giving us the stars/ and then showing us how blind and unaware of you we are". i told banne about it, and after a couple of google searches, jars of clay, the band, turns out to be christian. we were thrilled. we were hooked.

(it is not a surprise that some Christian bands crossover to contemporary popular genre and have people singing their songs without knowing they are praise and worship songs. this is a common practice, debated upon among the faithful. i would like to subscribe to what jon foreman of switchfoot, yet another Christian band, said: "I think the role of the prophet (not to say that I'm a prophet) is to say the eternal truths in a way that their generation can understand. That's what we're all called to do here on earth — speak truth in relevant ways.")

since then, i only owned one joc album: 1999's if i left the zoo. it was stolen from the SC office. i never recovered it. admittedly, most joc albums and tracks i have are downloaded from various peer2peer systems.

there concert in cebu was wow, amazing, great, hooah, right on, aaah! the band struck me as very expressive. i was really convinced they were quite bold in terms of their music (hey, any band who uses the sound of an old telephone ringing as a background for a track could technically be considered bold), but i wasn't expecting they would be as bold as performers. they would kneel onstage, prostrate themselves and then jump up and down in true rockstar fashion. when dan haseltine sang "You were there when the skies broke wide, wide open", he spread his arms wide and gazed up the midnight sky. he made me feel deprived: i never thought 'five candles' is best enjoyed by acting it out like a church song.

actually, we got the cheapest tickets. as we were about to bemoan our economic status and contemplate cheating by jumping over the barricades, the producers declared an open gate. in a sudden burst of excitement, we ran to the foot of the stage. we were probably 5 feet from them (hence the pictures). all these as they played 'love song for a savior'.

jars of clay is indeed a good band. and any good band knows they must always end their concerts with a love song ('tea and sympathy') and a different kind of love song ('jesus' blood never failed me yet'). listen to joc. they're good for you.

old picture = new picture + sepia

with too much time these days, i am able to browse through computer files that i have accumulated for the past three years. most of them of course were useless, a reinforcement of that new-agey adage that 90% of everything is junk. i, however, chanced upon this old picture of UP Cebu lying idly in a corner of my disk drive:

if you are from UP Cebu this picture should be of interest to you. notice the absence of the concrete "square" that so attempts to give the university symbol some degree of importance by giving it the more regal-sounding dwelling: the oblation square. notice too the existence of the two palm tree-like plants on the opposite sides of the administration building. in the name of progress, these trees have been promptly cut -- once stately, they are now reduced to irrecognizable stumps on the ground. the building is also still fresh and bright, a far cry to the almost Adams Family-like dread the building invokes today. the Oblation, however, is still the same as it was before.

now notice the picture below taken just recently during one of the block's hysterical pictorials. with a little sepia effect, we are taken almost decades from now when this photo shall have been old and, uh, antique-looking:

digital pictures continue to be as fresh and crisp as the day they were taken. we no longer have to deal with the ugly stains and discoloration caused by the acidity of paper and some good 'ol wear and tear. a sad fact as i like the look of an old picture. the browns and the scratches add an entirely new dimension: age -- the feeling that so many fruitful years have passed, been survived and lived through. that no matter how many decades passed by, the people in the photo, like the Oblation behind them, would continue to be strong, unwavering, and loyal, except that they make funny faces and strike pa-model poses once in a while.