Dallas Does Disney -- Sat., March 7

You won't want to miss this edition of "Dallas Does" as we pay tribute to the magical music of Disney as interpreted by some of Dallas's best singer-songwriters.

It's always a joy to share the stage with the talented artists who take part in each "Dallas Does" show, and I'm sure you will share that joy if you attend this Saturday. Check out the blog entry below for more information:

The Beautiful Extras: 5 favorite Disney Songs: This Saturday, I'll join other local singer-songwriters for a Dallas tribute to Disney music at Opening Bell Coffee . In preparation ...

Dallas Does The Beatles -- This Sat, 1/17

This Saturday, Jan 17th, I'll be joining some of my favorite people to pay tribute to the wonderful music of the Beatles at Opening Bell Coffeehouse. Read all about it (and my thoughts on Beatles Covers) in my blog entry, below; then, I'd love to see you join us on Saturday for the fun!



The Beautiful Extras: 5 favorite Beatles Covers: This Saturday, January 17th at 7:30 pm, I'll be joining some of DFW's greatest (and nicest) singer-songwriters for " Dallas ...

Dallas Does Willie Nelson

Hey everyone! You won't want to miss our next "Dallas Does" tribute show, as we pay homage to the wonderful music of Willie Nelson. Artists include:

Karyna Micaela
Christine Hand (me :))
Zach Balch
Garrett Owen
Craig Langford
Adam O'Dell
Jaime Saso
Nate Bellatti

We'll start at 8 pm at Opening Bell.

More info, here, or see the calendar page on this site for the address and details.

Dallas Does Elton John

This Saturday, May 31, at 8 pm, we will be joining a wonderful roster of talented local artists all paying tribute to the music of Elton John. The show is at Opening Bell Coffee in Dallas, and if you ask me, the chance to re-create the wonderful "Tiny Dancer" scene from Almost Famous is worth the price of admission.


Hope to see you there!

--Christine

Thankful

It's been a week this concert, and I'm still living off the high of the fun music, the friendly faces, and the deep sense of connection with the audience, with the music, and with God that I felt as we played this show.

So, thanks. Concerts don't happen without people to attend them. Art isn't really complete until it's shared, and, in that sharing, new meanings and layers are added to that art. This idea is especially true with live music. Any given performance could vary wildly from night to night, and a huge source of that variation is the energy the performer receives from the people in attendance. Last week, we fed off your amazing, supportive energy, friends, and it made for a great show.

Special thanks to Nick Mungia for playing drums with us; to Terry Fansler, David Naugle, and Philip Mitchell and to Dallas Baptist University for hosting and making the event possible; to the band for their hard work and practice; and to our faithful companions -- my mom and nephew -- for giving of their time and energy. You all rock.

--Christine

5 things to look forward to at this Friday's concert

1. Cookies and Coffee. (Probably. I mean, there have always been cookies and coffee in the past...)

2. Original songs based on Shakespeare, The Bible, and Bob Dylan.

3. Psychedelic keyboard solos from the one and only Ed Hand.

4. A scenic drive through DBU's tree-lined campus.

The concert is in Piper Hall, inside the Global Missions Center, circled on the map.

5. Covers of songs from The Beatles, Dylan, Led Zeppelin, and The Hymnal.

See you there!

Paideia Concert Announcement

I'm so pleased to announce that my first concert of 2014 will be this one, at my alma mater, Dallas Baptist University, as part of the Paideia College Society Conference.

I cannot tell you how excited I am about this concert. My experiences with the people in and events of this group have done more to shape my view of the world than any sermon or book ever has, and I have prepared a very special evening of music for this concert, which will be full-band (with a drummer). Not only is it free, but there are usually snacks and coffee, so I highly encourage you to attend!

Dear Blogging World

At the start of 2013, I took a year-long hiatus from blogging to focus on finishing my dissertation and graduating. It worked! I write to you now as Dr. Jones, with a year full of meaningful accomplishments behind me.

Because I turned 30 this year, I also renewed my driver's license this year for the first time in several years. That means that the year 2013 has been looming over me as an important year for a while, and setting 2013 as the goal year for my Phd graduation made the year seem even more special. As a result, this new year, 2014, feels newer than a lot of recent Januaries have. It's the first New Year of my thirties, my first New Year in a while when I have not been a student, and my first New Year as an official director of music ministry at Highland Baptist Church. It's also the first year I've been able to finally read Harry Potter. The year feels fresh and there are a lot of unknowns regarding my future employment and what to do with my time now that I'm no longer writing a dissertation. But one thing I do know is that I want to return to blogging. I've missed these simple posts, if only for the documentation of my cats and the lovely bits of life that have floated across this screen.

In an effort to focus more on blogging, I am moving my blog from christinehand.com to a new site, http://thebeautifulextras.blogspot.com/. I will still be using this space as my music website, where I will keep you updated on my concerts and other musical goings-on. But since I wanted to write about lots of different things without feeling like I was ignoring my music, I decided to move my main blog to a separate site. For my handful of followers, please start following me there.

There are many more things to update you on, including some words about the theme of my new site, but this is enough for today -- I still have a couple of Harry Potter books to read.

Happy New Year

--Christine

Dallas Does Dylan

As I'm sure you are aware by now, today is the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. In addition to listening to or reading Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's beautiful "I Have a Dream" speech, you may also want to listen to a little Bob Dylan. 50 years ago today, Dylan sang "When the Ship Comes in" and "Only a Pawn in their Game" at that historic event. And if you really want to celebrate the Dylan aspect of all this, you should come to Opening Bell Coffee this Saturday night, August 31st, for "Dallas Does Dylan."

I'll be there along with several of the best singer-songwriters Dallas has to offer, and we'll be singing lots of great Dylan songs. The show starts at 8:00, with a $5 cover. See you Saturday!

House of Blues this Thursday!

Hello, everyone! It's been a while. The last time I wrote, I was announcing an upcoming performance at House of Blues, Dallas. That show went great, and I'm happy to say we will be performing there again this Thursday, August 22nd, from 6-8 pm on the Voodoo stage. The show is free since we're playing on the dinner stage, so I urge you to order some delicious food (I recommend the shrimp and grits) and enjoy the show. Here's a link with all the information: http://www.houseofblues.com/tickets/eventdetail.php?eventid=82877

What have I been doing since the last time I posted? Well, I've been finishing a dissertation rough draft, which I just turned in. I might actually get to start blogging again.

Hope to see you guys on Thursday!

House of Blues Dallas, Tonight!

Hey guys! Need a last-minute, impressive date-night idea? How about grabbing a bite to eat at the Dallas House of Blues tonight anytime from 7-10 to hear us playing an array of acoustic 60s and 70s cover songs with a few of our originals thrown in for good measure. It's going to be a great show, and best of all, it's FREE! We'd love to see you stop by!

Dallas Does Eric Clapton

Dear Readers,

I'm sorry for the blog silence. You should be happy to know that I have been working on my dissertation faithfully. Well, mostly faithfully. Well, faithfully in-between attending academic conferences and other important-sounding-stuff. One of those important things? Practicing for this show:

Friday, March 15th Dallas Does ERIC CLAPTON! 8 pm $5

 Some of your favorite local Dallas musicians belt out the best of Eric Clapton. This is gonna be fun!

Garrett Owen

Christine Hand

Joel Megli

Tim Hall

Opening Bell Coffee

Really, "Christine Hand" is a misnomer this time. Sure, I'll be singing and all, but the real heavy-lifters are Adam Jones and Ed Hand, because of their amazing guitar skills. Especially my dad. We would say, "why don't you take a solo?" and then, he wouldn't just take the solo -- he would kill the solo. We should pretty much re-name the band "Keeping up with Ed."

So, come out and see us tonight. It's going to be great!

Sincerely,

Christine

Deadbeat blogger.

Dallas Does Johnny Cash

This Saturday, you are in for a treat as we participate in "Dallas does Johnny Cash." It's going to be a great night of wonderful songs and talented local performers. See all the info, below, in this beautiful promo pic:

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. It would be even lovelier if you'd spend part of it with us, at Opening Bell on Saturday night as we pay tribute to the man in black.

Happy Friday!

Happy Pho-riday!

A picture from Pho is for Lovers in Dallas, from this blog review of the restaurant

It's time for my first post of the year in which I complain about having a sinus infection. The cure? Without a doubt, my favorite remedy for upper respiratory troubles is Vietnamese Pho. It's basically a glorified chicken soup (or you can get it with beef or seafood) but it's delicious and perfect for making me feel better. I'm looking forward to having some tonight in hopes that it will kick this sinus crud in the tail before the spring semester starts again on Monday.

Speaking of which, in light of the new semester and my looming dissertation duties, it saddens me to say that after a year of blog progress, I'll have to cut back on blog posts when the semester starts. It doesn't mean the blog is going away -- I'll definitely keep you up to date on music news -- but there's not enough space in my brain to deal with everything that's required of me this semester, so I'm afraid the blog posts will be few and far between.

If that saddens you, I know just what you should eat to make yourself feel better -- a hot, savory bowl of Pho!

Happy Friday

Happy Friday: New Look for a New Year

Allow me to be really frivolous for a moment. Yesterday, I got my hair cut. I only do this about twice a year at the start of school semesters. Anyway, a blow dry was included in the price (at JC Penney salon, which turned out to be pretty awesome for the price), so I had them do a straight look for me:

I think I'll be doing this more often this year. It's fun to try a new look and to realize that I'm not defined by curly hair. (Don't get me wrong; I'm perfectly happy with my usual curls, but I like knowing that this is an option, too.)

Are you trying something new for the new year? 

Happy Friday.

News, Reviews, and the Muse

It's been another year of kept resolutions here at Christine Hand music. For 2011 I resolved to record an EP and did, and for 2012 I resolved to blog regularly, and I did. Apparently, making resolutions in public (even if no one's really reading) is the key. This year, I blogged at least twice a week -- not all that often in blogging terms, but a big step up for me -- began semi-regular "Dylan Diaries" posts to document my dissertation musings, and established "Happy Friday" posts so that I could justify writing about all the random stuff that goes through my head each week that has nothing to do with music. One of these Happy Friday posts, "5 ways to combat writer's block," was the most viewed post of the year. Which is kind of funny, because I spent a lot of the second half of 2012 with writer's block as I stared dumbly at my dissertation mess. In fact, let's just call it the messertation. That's better. Speaking of which, my big 2013 resolution is to clean up that messertation until it sparkles so that I can graduate and you can call me Dr. unemployed musician.

Actually, I'm going to have to stop using that joke about being a musician with no work, because one of the big pieces of news of 2012 is that I am now officially leading worship music at Highland Baptist Church. This has been very exciting for me and I'm still kind of pinching myself that any of my legitimate work duties have to do with playing guitar and arranging music all afternoon. I love teaching, and am grateful for that income source as well, but grading papers will just never be as much fun as playing music. But beyond the 'fun' aspect of it, this new gig fulfills a deep sense of calling in me and has refocused my creative efforts toward songs that express Christian themes. So you may see some changes in my songwriting this year, as well as another exciting new musical project for 2013 -- but I don't want to say too much about that just yet. I only mention it because I seem to keep the resolutions I make here on this blog. Apparently the muse speaks best through the vague threat of someone on the internet having negative thoughts about me.

So here's to another year of blogging, songwriting, and dissertating. Many thanks to those of you who read this and, in so doing, give me that extra burst of motivation to keep working and creating.

2012 in pictures

Happy New Year! Below is my attempt to present my year using only one picture per month. I had to cheat for November (you'll understand why) and December (I made a collage, so it's technically only one picture...). 2013 has been a great year. Here's to a lovely 2013.

January:

Molly, asleep in the winter sun.

February:

The fateful Half Price Books in Humble concert, during which our car broke down and we were stuck in Houston.

March:

Studying for doctoral exams, which I passed!

April:

Easter brights.

 

May:

I was there too, I promise.

June:

5th anniversary festivities

July:

My favorite show to play this year: Dallas does the Eagles

August:

Back to school!

September:

Never. Ending. Pasta. Bowl. (with some of my favorite people)

October:

Avengers for Halloween

November:

Two new baby nieces on their first ever Thanksgiving. How could I choose between them?

December:

From top left: a scene from Narnia on a white Christmas in Paris, TX; caroling with Highland Baptist Church; we roasted marshmallows around this fire; Uncle Adam tackling my future-NFL/rock - star nephew; country Christmas; Molly and the book tree.

Happy 2013 everyone!

What Child is This?

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!

This weekend, I had a blast playing Christmas songs at Opening Bell Coffee's annual Christmas Open Mic. As usual, it was a wonderfully talented bunch of performers and songwriters, and we really enjoyed being part of the holiday spirit.

Now, it's Christmas eve, and to get you in the spirit, here's that other Christmas tune I promised you: "What Child is This?" featuring the alternate chorus lyrics.


From the picture on this video of a peaceful Molly-cat, you might be tempted to answer the question, "What Child is This" with: a fuzzy orange tabby. But that would have truly frightening theological implications. So, I'm going to stick with the answer:

"This, This is Christ the King, 
whom shepherds laud and angels sing; 
haste, haste to bring Him laud,
 the babe, the son of Mary."

Merry Christmas!

Happy Friday: Books and Cats and Christmas

Earlier this month, I showed you our book tree with Desmond trying to knock it over. Today, I bring photos of Molly and the tree -- a perfect picture of the personalities of our two cats: Desmond tries to destroy things while Molly sleeps and looks pretty. Now that I've switched to this tree-topper, Desmond generally leaves the tree alone, but the mere glimmer of tinsel turns him insane. Yesterday, I was wrapping presents and struggling to keep the crinkly paper and ribbon away from Desmond's adorable-yet-mischievous white paws. I turned my head for a second and when I looked back he had strings of shiny red tinsel in his mouth. I thought I got all of it out, but later I found a lovely new Christmas present: throw-up with strands of tinsel glittering throughout. sigh. At least we also have the good cat:

I love that in this picture you can just see our mantle with stockings. Here's a close-up:

That was a long time ago. Now that little count-down Santa says "04"

Also, Molly is good at hiding.

A close-up of the top of the book tree. It's kind of amazing what books ended up on the tree through searching for mostly red and green books. A yellow one ended up near the top because it was the right size. I really enjoy the interplay of those top 5 books: Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton; A Theological Miscellany; The Divine Life of the Most Holy Virgin; Jesus: Man or Myth?; and finally, a Gideon's New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs Bible -- the perfectly-sized topper, and sort of symbolic, too. I'm not sure what Tolkien Commentaries, Beckett's Endgame, and The Heidegger Reader say about us -- probably just that we're both graduate students.

Happy Friday, and Happy Christmas!

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

A couple of years ago, I recorded two Christmas songs in my home studio, playing and singing all the parts myself as a fun, winter-break project. Ever since, I've wanted to do more Christmas songs, but we've had some problems with our recording equipment at home, and going into the studio is expensive. But here's one of the songs for you, one of my favorite Advent songs of longing: "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus:"




Speaking of songs of Advent longing, check out my post over at Thinking Through Christianity about a little-known Christmas carol in which a mother mourns the death of her child in Herod's Massacre of the Innocents.

I'll post another Christmas song next week.

--Christine