Category: Music

Hotel California – TF 1AD 2003

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The Task Force First Armored Division (TF 1AD) had a singing competition for Independence Day, 2003. Soldiers at the Baghdad international airport, known earlier as the Saddam International Airport, lived in tents, bombed out buildings, or wherever they could. One bombed out building was christened the Hotel California by the soldiers who lived there. This song tells one perspective on life there.

By Mark D. Harris

Hotel California (TF 1AD) – sung and played to the tune of Hotel California by the Eagles.

Verse 1

At a dark desert airport, scorched wind in my hair
Warm smell of latrine fires, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw an RPG strike
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night

There she stood in the doorway
I heard the gunfire swell
And I was thinking to myself
This isn’t heaven its got to be hell
Then she fired off a tracer and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor
I thought I heard them say

Chorus

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place
In a desert waste
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Every time of year
The Army sends us here

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The Band Dad

Brass section of a band playing for band dads
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How to be a good band dad.

By Mark Harris

It is August, and the beginning of school is around the corner. For those with children in high school, and specifically those whose kids play music, school starts early in the form of marching band camp. Many marching band dads were band players themselves back in the day, but I was not. So, when child 2,3,4 and 5 in my family wanted to join the band, I was in for a shock.

Lessons for a Band Dad

At first, since I knew nothing about bands, I kept them at arm’s length. But year by year I did more and learned more. Here are some band lessons learned since I started this gig in 2010.

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Message Bearing Marching Bands

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High school marching band shows reflect our priorities and our insanities. How can they help make us better?

By Mark D. Harris

Ours is a marching band family – four of our five children have been in marching bands at the high school and/or college level.  The other one was in the orchestra. Our kids have been at Hayfield and Thomas Jefferson (TJ) High Schools in northern Virginia, Collierville High School in Tennessee, Shady Spring High School in West Virginia, and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. We have enjoyed parades, pep bands, and shows at football halftimes and band competitions. Dance teams, color guards, drum majors, and lines of marching and playing students entertain us every week in every autumn.   

High school marching band shows have themes, ranging from the musical (the Music of Queen), the cinematic (Illusion, including Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), and the historical (the Transcontinental Railway). Bands compete before judges, who score them on such measures as musicality, marching/dance, visuals, guard, pit, and drumline. At the end of every competition, the band with the highest score in their division wins a trophy. But what do judges find worthy of acclaim? Continue reading “Message Bearing Marching Bands” →

Music and Emotion

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Music stirs the emotions in unique ways. How does music affect us? How can we use it to accomplish our goals in life? How can God work through music in us to achieve His will?

By Mark D. Harris

Our father could never understand our taste in music. It was the 1980s, and my younger brother and I were teens. Dad was a singer and loved music, but preferred the Bobby Vinton style to the Axl Rose style. More than once he asked, “why do you listen to that trash?”, a question that every generation asks their children and grandchildren.  We were both involved in the youth group at church, and my favorite artist at the time was Keith Green. He was a talented Christian singer who was sincere about his faith, but tragically died in 1982 from a plane crash, as so many other musicians have. My brother found Ozzy Osbourne more to his taste.

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Look What You Made Me Do

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A Christian perspective on Taylor Swift’s song, on her career, and hoping she will replace her lost innocence with virtue.

By Mark D. Harris

I rarely comment on trends and events in the entertainment world, mostly because I don’t follow it.  I do follow my daughter’s life, however, and she asked me to comment on Taylor Swift’s latest music video, Look What You Made Me Do. So here I write, as a fool rushing in where wise men never go.

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The Misty Mountain String Band

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By Mark D. Harris

For Bluegrass and Americana, you can’t do better than the Misty Mountain String Band (MMSB). I saw them for the first time on 12 May 2017 at an open-air concert in Louisville KY. Formed in Louisville in August of 2012, the MMSB has toured throughout the southcentral United States and released three CDs – Red Horizon, Brownsboro, and Went to the Well.

Paul Martin plays the mandolin and banjo for the band, although he is also an accomplished guitarist. He and his wife Moonbeam have three girls. Paul is the son of George Martin, a professor of World Religions Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS). Derek Harris is the upright bass player for the MMSB and handles much of the business.  Brian Vickers, the guitarist, is a professor of New Testament at SBTS. Finally, Neal Green, a minister of worship at the Ballardsville Baptist Church in Louisville, plays fiddle.

Derek graciously gave me permission to add the MMSB’s music to the MD Harris Institute. Enjoy!

The Misty Mountain String Band

MMSB – YouTube