It’s 31 December 2023. Written another way, the date is 123123. And coincidentally as I start writing, it’s 21:23 on the clock. Continue reading 123123
123123
Category: Blog
Blog posts from the Ryan Calder Band
Heavenly peace
As I have said previously, I have been mulling over Christmas lyrics. Lines that I haven’t thought about for years suddenly pop out at me as we decorate the tree and hang tinsel everywhere.
There’s one line that has been bugging me though. It’s the one from Silent Night. It’s possibly the most foreign concept to the modern world. No one has a foggy clue what it’s about. The line? Continue reading Heavenly peace
Thinking about Christmas lyrics
Christmas in my family was always a big deal. Our family is big, and so it generally involved cousins and food, sleepovers, garden cricket, swimming pools, braais and a Test match or two.
Growing up as a pastor’s kid, most of these activities were tacked on around church activities. In our child minds though, church activities were an add-on from the aforementioned REAL activities.
Things change. Perhaps it’s the aging process, the passage of time, the yearning for something more… but I sense those two things inverting. Continue reading Thinking about Christmas lyrics
You just never know…
Do you ever wonder whether what you do means anything to anyone? I mean, in the grander scheme of things: do you think about if what you are doing is making a difference in people’s lives? I have these moments from time to time. The writer of Ecclesiastes knew this feeling well: “Everything is meaningless!” Continue reading You just never know…
Perhaps it will be pleasing…
At the international school that we work at currently, a colleague of mine has an email signature with very small print. It reads the following: Continue reading Perhaps it will be pleasing…
Music and sport
There are two things that I love in life: music and sport. If you had to think of the profile character for each, they wouldn’t necessarily overlap. I mean, get a picture in your mind of an athlete and then a musician. They’re almost contradictory. For example, I don’t wear my skin-tight trisuit when I’m performing on stage and neither do I go swimming and cycling in denim jeans (although it may feel like it on some days… but that’s probably a fitness issue). Continue reading Music and sport
Performers as therapists
Can a musical performer be a psychological therapist? I guess that’s the question I’m asking myself as I make my application for further studies, and start work on my fourth album. Continue reading Performers as therapists
Little things in the suitcase
Sitting in Malaysia, it’s difficult to articulate to anyone what it feels like to have been out of your home country for two months.
On the one hand, there are the big things associated with moving to a new land – the culture shock, the economic system and how you have to adjust to the way life is ordered in that place. These are the big things that I planned for prior to moving and travelling.
Then there are the little things.
In the back of my mind I have had the lyrics of U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind on repeat, and in particular, the words of the song Walk On. Continue reading Little things in the suitcase
Filling the tank with quiet
I had to pause and take a step backwards when I heard myself shouting at my kids. There’s a constant mess in our home, and we’re having to pick up stuff after them all the time. Some might say that’s normal. It wasn’t the mess – it was my reaction. I realised my “tank” was empty. We’d moved country. We’d flatted our finances. And amidst all that stressful drain, I hadn’t been topping up. Continue reading Filling the tank with quiet
What’s the soundtrack to your life right now?
Out of curiosity for SEO and the concept itself, I googled it. I had no idea of the amount of websites that will quiz you and then give you the results. Here’s what landed my way: Continue reading What’s the soundtrack to your life right now?
