Real Boy

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:43:58 -0700

Flowers for Habibi

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:30:27 -0700

HIV/AIDS Benefit in Hyde Park

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:27:12 -0700

Hip Hop and Acoustic, This will be swell!

P1041293

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:50:33 -0700

in Oak Park

P8241093

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:48:26 -0700

We met Bono in Dublin.

Flowers For Habibi HIV/AIDS and Artist Motivation

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:25:47 -0700

Flowers For Habibi www.robberflymusic.com/flowers.html Available For Download June 14th Concept & Songs & Motivations I released this collection digitally on June 14 2008. ALL proceeds go to Hear The Cry (www.hearthecry.org). Thus far, $1500 has been donated through this effort. During my time in Ireland I wrote some music. I was motivated to write as a result of beholding the awe inspiring natural beauty in Ireland. I also could not help but to be moved when a seventeen-year-old gypsy, named Gabbi, asked me to pray with him in the shadows of Grafton Street, Dublin. The only English word he recognized fully was, Jesus. During our time in Ireland, Sarah and I were drawn closer to each other, and I wrote about that relational dynamic amidst the change of uprooting everything, and leaving all that was familiar to live for 7 months in Ireland. All the while, Kathryn and Alan Scott, were teaching me to challenge opinions I held about myself and the world around me. They were teaching me to lean into Jesus, and get to know him better! This process led to, and is still leading me, to press into creativity, and question my motivations when I sit down to write a song. Most of the songs I wrote, during my stay, in Ireland were influenced by the blues. I feel challenged in my journey as a musician to explore this genre. I feel like I am just scratching the surface about the subject of 'Artist Reinvention'. I feel I haven't given fair time to my guitar, and so with any skill, I hid behind what is comfortable, which allowed minimal creative freedom, and expression. For me, this on the guitar looked like hiding behind familiar songs, and song structure. I want to be a true artist, and be able to express deep longings within my soul, musically. I have started this journey, and it has been extremely fruitful. I have been exploring the idea of shelter recently, in the lyrics that I write. I love this theme, because it seems as though everyone, in the artistic community is caught up in the idea of war, and combat, militant for peace, and attacking. For me, at this stage in my life I am fascinated by the idea of shelter, and refuge. I come to Sarah after a long day chatting with Kathryn about my songs that are no good, or Sarah has a tough day with Luca screaming a little. Sometimes I don't feel God is anywhere to be found, or the same with Sarah. This is where that idea of shelter is so crucial. The synonyms for that idea, of shelter, abound as well. I am enthralled with terms such as; Harbor, safe haven, and refuge. I am trying to find ways to integrate those ideas into my lyrical content. When Sarah and I returned to the United States in March, some friends of ours we putting together a showing for their artwork. Brian and Lorah Campbell are our dear friends, and share a similar heart for the poor in this world, and those who are disenfranchised. They do an amazing job of displaying, artistically, gaps between the world's wealthy, and the world's poor. The Campbells' displayed some of their work in a show they entitled 'Empires.' The title for the collection of songs I wrote in Ireland is entitled; "Flowers For Habibi." This title was chosen directly from a piece Lorah Campbell created of the same title. The work is sectioned into three rectangles. Each has a unique Victorian looking wallpaper print; she designed by hand as the works background. In the foreground are pictures of Moroccan woman at the market. Brian and Lorah traveled to Morocco in 2006, and the pictures are taken from photographs they took while in the country. The piece is all about giving value to those who don't have value in the eyes of most westerners. The women who are portrayed are most likely poor, and they are juxtaposed against a backdrop of Victorian wallpaper. This is a clash of ideas, the third world, coming into contact with the first world. The following songs are those I have chosen to put forward as "Flowers For Habibi." "Flowers For Habibi" This is the title of the collection, and a song written out of direct inspiration from Lorah Campbell's piece. The song has a happy vibe in its melody and guitar. The songs open with the lyric "Searching for some nobility, it's written down in calligraphy." This lyric is representative of the way I feel about extreme poverty. Many times, we as western observers, devalue the poor just by the lifestyle choices we make. We look for value in the wrong places. So I am pointing to fallacy of looking for truth amongst the wealthy things, amongst the things that glitter. Jesus was born in an animal stall. I kept close to my heart during this writing, the idea of Jesus being born today. If Jesus were born today he may have been born into extreme poverty in Africa. In a war torn land, where leaders are corrupt, and outsiders look to exploit the resources of that country. If he were born today his mother may have had HIV/AIDS, and his father would have been ostracized because of the shame that surrounds the sex issue. I speak to the widening gap between wealthy and poor; "The canyon between, the river below." I then speak to us as westerners and say; "I became the causeway, you walked across." This, to me, brings up images of Jesus riding into town on a donkey, while palm branches are thrown down, thus giving him honor as he rides into Jerusalem. I feel like America needs to learn how to become a "palm branch" again. The chorus plainly and simply states; "Death cannot stop true love. Love is moving me!" "Springtime". This song is closest to the format of songs I have been writing previously. It is chord based, and straight forward in arrangement. I enjoy performing this tune because it is the easiest, technically, to pick up. The song represents the entirety of the last "season" of my life. The song is hopeful, wishing on the arrival of Spring. The song is freeing for me to sing, because the lyrics are explicit in giving my generation permission. The chorus speaks to this when it says; "I'm allowed! I'm out loud! I'm not a boy, I'm a child!" I feel as if my generation is timid in the way we approach life, and taking risks. So, I give us permission, me included, to live and take risks, and view life as it is, a journey, not a destination. I added a proverb in the second verse. The proverb says, "Your word is a honeycomb, sweet, sweet to my soul!" I added this proverb because I feel like if we would just turn to God, my generation would not have to strive any longer! We wouldn't have to try so hard to be, well... us! So I am hinting at that feeling of abandonment, without striving to get there through introspection. There is a lyric in the song that speaks to America's recession, which I had just heard about while we were living in Ireland. It was interesting to hear the talk about America and its finances, from an Irish perspective. The lyric sums up how I felt about my country's dealings with economy. "Money is like a ghost in America." Money haunts us here, the wealthy cannot get enough, and the poor cannot either. I feel as if our country is living in a very interesting time, many people who hold resources are retiring, and doubtful whether the next generation can assume responsibility. So, we see a mad dash for resources, in a sense, everyone is reaching for their bank accounts and screaming, "All hands on deck, All hands on cash." I call it a freeze of assets, and a mad dash for that last drop of finance before retirement. This is causing the recession in America, not prime mortgages, and rising oil prices. At the end of the song the lyric the listener is left with is; "Your love is needle and thread." A metaphoric representation of how I feel about the first and third world collision we see happening in our world. "Show Me." This song is based on a blues riff in the key of A. The song is nothing like what I would have written six months prior. It is different in arrangement, and the style of the song does not depend on a loud, catchy chorus to carry the tune. The lyric of the song surrounds that idea of relational shelter I wrote about earlier. I wrote this song after a really tough, emotional week with life in general. I was feeling as if there were no open doors to Sarah and I, and I just felt like I needed a place to lay my burdens, and a place I could rest from all the noise that had crept inside of my head. I have been thinking of life in the sense of rooms and doors recently. I used to wonder why it seemed as if no open doors could be found for me. Now I wonder why I would ever want any other doors to fling open before me? My prayers used to consist of asking God for open doors, now I ask him to shut doors! I ask him to shut doors to rooms I have no business entering. I want to feel God usher me into and out of rooms, rather than strive to knock down dead-bolted life doors! Life seems simpler when it is lived that way. Sometimes life gets to a point where all you can hear in your head is the static in the atmosphere. Show Me is very simple in chord usage, and lyric. At the end of the song the lyric resolves it's questioning, when I state confidently; "Your arms are the open door I've been looking for." Toward the end of my stay in Ireland, I found that Sarah is where my home is, on this planet. I also found my more permanent residence to be in Jesus. The only open door I have found in this world. "Half Way." This song is based on a really melodic guitar riff. The song is a bit more challenging to play and it is tough to keep my focus when I play it, because I want to get the sound exactly correct. The song deals with both distance geographically, and distance relationally. I like the double meaning it holds, in meeting someone half way to wherever you are headed. The lyrics are very honest, and exposing. In the song I confess the wrong attitude for wanting to go to Ireland; "I went looking for signs and wonders." The song also deals with that classic struggle between your head and your heart. There is a line in the song that reads; "In the science of your heart, where the world seems upside down, my love." I love that idea of science combining with my heart. My heart attitude is something that is utterly impossible to measure; most times, yet I still try and study it, to make sure I am living. Which is a complete contradiction to why it is there in the first place. The following line reads simply; "Tell me how you feel." This is a line of surrender that follows the complex line before it. This line also deals with my relationship with Sarah, sharing our pain together as one life! When the world seems upside down, I just need someone to share how I truly feel about it being that way, and the same with Sarah coming to me. The whole separation from "home" process is difficult, and you can start to regret forever leaving, but in the end, we were only gone for seven months, and life moves so quickly that seven months is nothing in light of eternity. I didn't want to look back on Ireland and regret ever leaving. I don't. Sarah and I grew closer to each other, and there is a depth of trust in our relationship that wasn't there before we left for Ireland. That line in the song refers to me coming back to Sarah in my heart, and also answers any doubt in my mind for the worthiness of that reason for leaving in the first place. "New Mercy" This is a worship song in the key of B. I like the simplicity of this song. "Morisko, No Longer." This song is instrumental. I like the arrangement, and I think it sounds like the 1970's. There are so many people who contributed to the release of these songs. Sarah encouraged me to write these songs, even after I thought I should give up writing, and spending a few days in bed. Alan and Kathryn Scott, who invested grace into Sarah and I without us even knowing it at the time. Bono, told me never to give up on my dreams, and he is a hero of mine! Amber and Jon let us stay in their house when we returned from Ireland. Mark Rainey, who reminded me when I had forgotten that music, can change the world. Esther Ahn, made me see that music can be fun if you feel like it can be! Ian Smyth, and Fraz. Ian and Fraz, are amazing musicians, who brought these songs to life during a couple of rehearsal sessions in Ireland. Ian helped me unlock creativity and Fraz dropped a fat beat where I could not! These songs are to be played in a trio setting. Seth Earnest and John Reuben helped me record some of the songs once I arrived back stateside. Seth brings a level of talent, and professionalism to the songs I could not even dream of. I heart John Reuben! Mike Gallaugher, who continues to support us, for reasons known only to him. Adam Hiegal, and Eric Tarr, and Chris Westra are heores of mine, and they will help me journey these songs on June 14th at the Hear The Cry Benefit Show. Dan and Melissa Nathan who we are eternally bound, our dearest friends, and who we journeyed our time in Ireland with emotionally. Bill Fioritto is my stink pot, and he amazes me with the art he produces. Vinay, played for me some of the sweetest harmonies, and shared much of his time with Sarah and I in Ireland. Brian and Lorah Campbell are artists who stand inside the thick fortress of creative integrity! They express the gaps in our society like no other artists can! Lorah Campbell donated her work, and her time to help create a visual image for these audio images. I hope you enjoy this collection of songs as much as I enjoyed writing and playing them. Tracklisting: Flowers For Habibi Springtime Show Me Half Way New Mercy Instrumental- Morisko No Longer

Eben & Sarah Brusco

Real Boy

Flowers for Habibi

HIV/AIDS Benefit in Hyde Park

P1041293

P8241093

Flowers For Habibi HIV/AIDS and Artist Motivation