The Official Jars of Clay Email News
CONTENTS:
*Introduction
*On the Charts
*Concert Review: Cafe Milano 8/12/95
*Details from Charlie
*Changed Souls
*The Elusive Editor, Earthpots
*Jars www site
*Exciting News Brief #1
*Even More Exciting News Brief #2
*The Clayjars Account
*Worlds Apart Ad-lib
*An Encouraging Letter
*Liquid Chants
*Prayer Requests
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Introduction:
Well, many new exciting things happening here! We have a www site now for back issues for those interested. We also have over 260 subscribers now, growing fast. Welcome aboard all you new members! :) Yesterday alone I heard from 22 new people! Let's see...we're looking for a logo to begin each newsletter, if any of you can help please let me know. I'm referring to the ones made up of lines.
I was thinking a Jar with something written on it would be neat, but we're open to any ideas! Also, sorry it's been a while since the last issue. There is a lot of news to tell about so I'll wait no longer! I've been waiting to hear from people in hopes of some concert reviews, opinions, etc. so everyone feel free to write! It would probably make the newsletter more interesting. Thanks to all of you for your prayers especially. I know there are many people out there praying for the guys, and they need it more than ever. Well, for the latest news, read on!
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On the Charts (special thanks to Mark Smeby for all this info!):
Week of August 7th:
CHR Update chart action- LoveSong moves from 11 to 7 in its 3rd week. The three hot songs above it right now are #3- The Grace of God- PFR, #4- Blessed Be the Name- Brent Bourgeois, and #5 (up from #17) Inside Out, Upside Down- Charlie Peacock..who just ruptured his spleen, by the way.
AC- Love Song drops from 35 to 36 although gaining 1.32 points...we'll see.
The album is still #2 on the Christian Retail Top-Selling albums...
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Week of August 14th:
CCM Update begins a new system of radio charts that tracks the numbers of plays each song gets, as well as the number of points...
So...for the Aug. 14th issue...CHR chart..Jars have the number 2 song with Love Song...up from #7 last week...although it is ranked #1 in number of plays with 333. Believe it or not...PFR jumps up to number one with The Grace of God...which is actually the first song that Mark Nash has written on...!
On the larger AC chart...Love Song is ranked #35...up one from #36 last week...with 114 spins on radio this week...for a reference point...the #1 AC song Morgan Cryar's "If I Never See A Miracle" had 590 plays this week.
Album news...Jars finally drops to #4 on the Christian Retail chart due to great debuts by Out of the Grey's Gravity at #2 and Rich Mullins' Brother's Keeper at #3. My Utmost is still #1...of course.
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CCM Update for 8/21/95:
AC- LoveSong- up another spot to #34...although they are #29 in airplay.
CHR- LoveSong stays at #2 behind PFR for a second week. It'll be close next week I'm sure...
Christian Retail album sales...Jars jumps back to #3
1- My Utmost
2- Gravity
3- Jars
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Concert Review: Cafe Milano 8/12/95:
Yes...last night's show was incredible. Of course I'm partial...but the guys really presented a very mature, sophisticated sound and style that was new. As if all their touring is turning them more into who they are...Understand? They did two shows in an incredibly hot, packed room. It was acoustic, yes...and really they did very little talking...letting the music speak the volumes that we all know it does...
They went through most of the album...and tossed in "Strong Coffee" and "Fade to Grey"... in their acoustic version. Cool... times ten.
For the "encore" they did Bourgeois Tagg's "I Don't Mind At All" and some Nightengale song that I've never heard...[Toad the Wet Sprocket's "Nightengale Song" - Ed.]
The set had a great flow to it...and many songs had new arrangements that made some of them fit really well together...often blending a couple of songs into one. You'll have to get details from Char...as I'm not in official reviewer mode...
Their harmonies were extremely tight...James did great on sound... It was great fun. I think the audience was pretty mesmerized the whole time...cool.
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Details from Charlie: These writings are excerpts from a letter Charlie wrote to me a week or so ago. Thought they'd supplement the letter well. Enjoy!
" Tonite we drive to Texas, and we'll be gone all week, except we're coming back briefly Thursday evening because Mancy is singing at Cafe Milano with Stephen Leiweke and some other Greenville grad's. Sarah Jahn just finished mixing her new demo (8 songs) which is very good. She's being heavily courted. The song "Brand New Name" that I wrote with her is on it and it sounds great. I know Forefront/Ardent, REX, Benson, Warner Alliance, and Essential are all interested in her.
We just had two good shows at Caffe Milano last Friday. Both shows were sold out, and the manager said it was the best concert attendance he ever had there. A lot of our friends came out to watch us, as well as our pastor Scotty, and Mike Tait. It was a lot of fun. We're doing "Blind" acoustic now, as well as "Liquid"- kind of a slower, groove (almost reggae) version. The guy doing our CD Rom was there with video camera in hand, so I hope some of it appears on the ROM.
We played a show outside of Atlanta this past week (with Third Day) and Robert Beeson met us there with a guy from Silvertone Records, which is Zomba's alternative label. They are very interested in us and are planning to release the album mainstream at the first of the new year. They also want to release "Flood" to radio and video to VH1. Pretty exciting stuff, but it makes us all cautiously nervous.
We sought the counsel of Pastor Smith last night over dinner, which was so helpful. He's very wise in issues of music/art vs. ministry, and being the salt of the earth. I look up to him so much. It's an honor to be taught by him, and he's kind of taking us under his wing and offering himself to us as a counselor."
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Changed Souls: This message was taken from the Jars folder on AOL, it was quite encouraging to read it!
Subj: Re:Concert at LifeWeek95
Date: 95-08-06 18:46:27 EDT
From: Kriket10
You were so awesome at LifeWeek. Thank-you so much for coming. You convinced a friend of mine that Christians can have fun too, and later at the invatation, he made Christ Lord of his life. Thank-you so much!!!
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The Elusive Editor:
Hello to all, I am the editor of this newsletter, and have been pleasantly bombarded recently, due to new people asking for subscriptions! Also, many people are asking me who I am and WHY I would do a thing like this for the band, investing my time and energy for a few hundred people on internet. So, I owe you all an explanation! :) I am Charlie's older brother (he plays keyboards for those who don't remember) and I really believe in what these guys are doing. In the past, I have been let down by artists "in the limelight", which was my fault for putting them on pedestals to begin with. But I really believe that the guys in Jars have hearts for God and that their sole purpose is to declare His word, and I believe they won't deviate from doing so. It has been quite exciting to see the growing popularity of their album and therefore their ministry, and I'm glad to be a tiny part of it. A few quick words about myself for those wondering- I'm majoring in Music Industry/Sound Recording at the University of New Haven in Connecticut and live in New Britain presently.
I was previously in a Master's program for Biological Oceanography here but through a number of circumstances the Lord led me through quite a career change. I hope to be a publicist/promoter for CCM bands or a talent or booking agent, possibly somewhere in New England. I am engaged to Kristin Clark, and the wedding is set for June 29th of 1996. I want to thank you all for your encouragement and questions, I appreciate your interest and support!
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Jars WWW Site!
There have been many people inquiring about a Jars of Clay site on the World Wide Web. Good news - there is now a site that has been offerred by an Earthen Vessels subscriber. Actually, many people have offerred to have one but we decided on this one for a number of reasons. Unfortunately, we cannot call this an "official" Jars www site...this is only because Essential Records may have their own site soon, and they have all the rights to the Jars stuff. It will be an official Earthen Vessels site though- meaning you can find all of the back issues and an updated FAQ for downloading. This also means you won't have to bug your editor :) and wait weeks for him to send you back issues. The site is at: www.grfn.org/~qwerty/ev
Please visit the site and let me know what you think- your input is needed! Thanks to Steve Carlson for volunteering his time and efforts for the site.
Hopefully it will eventually contain pictures and other interesting items on the guys.
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Exciting News Brief #1:
Jars are to be featured on the cover of CCM magazine for the October issue! It will be an issue focusing on the new bands in Christian music and Jars will be the "headliner" article. We can all look forward to reading more about how ministry is going for the guys when the issue comes out, so watch for it!
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Even More Exciting News Brief #2: It has recently been announced that Jars of Clay will be touring with none other than Michael W. Smith for his upcoming world tour in 1996! "WOW" is all I have to say. Please pray for them as God prepares them for an incredible ministry potential. They have been invited along for all three legs of the tour, 40 dates each. For now, they have decided to start with the first one in February and see how it goes. They will be playing for 8-12,000 people per night. They are working on finding a bassist and possibly another instrumentalist to play violin/fiddle, and are also saving up for more equipment. The tour with PFR this fall is still on, of course, so chances are you'll all be able to see the show somewhere! A busy year ahead...
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The Clayjars Account:
Many people have been inquiring as to the existence of the Clayjars email account, as listed in the newsletter and in the latest CCM magazine. This is, in fact, an account that reaches Jars of Clay themselves. Any mail sent there will be read by them. Unfortunately, however, they have not had a chance to respond to many of the messages sent there. Please forgive them for this, they have told me they're sorry but things are far too busy for them at the moment to answer the "Flood" of mail they've received. They do thank you for all the support though, and you should feel free to write them anytime. Also, they read this newsletter, so anything sent to me for inclusion will be read by them as well as everyone else. In fact, I have been in need of some comments/reviews/opinions/prayer requests/etc. from all of the subscribers, so please write a message if you feel that anything in particular is on your heart! Thanks.
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Worlds Apart Ad-lib:
The following is the ad-lib that Dan sings in the bridge section of "World's Apart". A few of you have requested this- sorry it took so long.
"I look beyond the empty cross
forgetting what my life has cost
and wipe away the crimson stains
and dullen nails that still remains.
More and more I need you now,
I owe you more each passing hour
the battle between grace and pride
I gave up not so long ago
So steal my heart and take the pain
and wash the feet and cleanse my pride
take the selfish, take the weak,
and all the things I cannot hide
take the beauty, take my tears
the sin-soaked heart and make it yours
take my world all apart
take it now, take it now
and serve the ones that I despise
speak the words I can't deny
watch the world I used to love
fall to dust and thrown away
I look beyond the empty cross
forgetting what my life has cost
so wipe away the crimson stains
and dullen nails that still remains
so steal my heart and take the pain
take the selfish, take the weak
and all the things I cannot hide
take the beauty, take my tears
take my world apart, take my world apart
I pray, I pray, I pray
"take my world apart"
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An encouraging letter: The following letter was written to Matt Odmark (guitar, bgv) by one of our subscribers. Thanks Philip!
From: pchung@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca (Philip Chung)
To: Odie74@aol.com
Matt, Greetings from your neighbor to the north (ie. Canada) - Edmonton, Alberta to be exact. I just wanted to write and say that I picked up the Jars of Clay CD a couple of weeks ago, and have enjoyed it greatly. Your sound is very unique. I love all of the work with the acoustic guitars but also the arrangements involving the violins and cello were great. Most of all, though, your lyrics cause me to think about my faith and where it's at. The song "Sinking" perfectly captures the human tendency to want to do things ourselves, but at the same time shows that GOD, in His great mercy chooses to see through that to the true need that we have deep within. It sure describes how I feel at times. There are still some lines that I'm having trouble with though. I don't think I'm grasping the entire meaning conveyed in "Art in Me". I'd appreciate it if you could tell me what it means and what caused you guys to write this.
I think my favorite track is "Like a Child" because this one song seems to summarize what true faith can do.
I also have subscribed to your JoC newsletter which I have enjoyed so far. I especially enjoyed your article about seeing the power of GOD in things He has created. I know that sometimes I get so caught up in the endless cycle of daily life (which usually consists of manmade things) that I overlook GOD's creation - especially nature. I guess it doesn't help when you live in a large city. Still, I do greatly appreciate what GOD has given us - which shows yet another aspect of His mercy and generosity! I hope that you guys continue to share your thoughts with all us fellow believers out here.
Congrats on the rave reviews you guys have been getting, and the success of your released songs on the charts. I know it probably doesn't mean that much to you to recieve all of these accolades, but maybe it's a way God is using your musical gifts to reach people. I hope that many more people will pick up your album - I've already recommended it to several of my friends:-)
In the newsletter your concert dates are listed. Do you have any plans on coming up north to Canada? I'd love to hear your guys' version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer":-)
Anyway, I just thought I'd share my two cents with you. Hope to hear from you whenever you can find the time (although I know you guys are probably busy and going on the road). GOD bless you guys!
Your Brother in Christ,
Phil Chung (pchung@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca)
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Liquid Chants: What does the chant in Liquid mean? Let's hear all of your ideas! :)
From: qwerty@grfn.ORG (Steve Carlson)
To: Earthpots@aol.com
You know, one of the questions in there was about the chants on "Liquid", and I had a thought on those myself. I was thinking (and I'm sure I'm wrong) that the second half of the chat sounds JUST LIKE the words of Christ, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani", meaning "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" I am sure I'm wrong, but if you listen to it, it sounds a LOT like that... Isn't that odd? Since the song is about the crucifixion, I thought that would be appropriate. What do you think?
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Subj: CHANT
Date: 95-07-20 16:11:34 EDT
From: PSALMS425
If you were going to put in a latin chant, knowing full well you had no clue what was being said, why not something like, "Buy more Jars records," or, "We can pin M.W. Smith 2 out of 3 falls?"
Peace,
Tom
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Subj: CHANT
Date: 95-07-20 14:49:15 EDT
From: ChrisM333
I THINK I HAVE DECIPHERED THE CHANT, being the Latin scholar that I am (yeah right) I listened and listened and listened.. Finally after much grueling work, I came up with this:
OMNI REDITE MUNDA, PITUITA ET OMNI
Which means: everything returns to the Earth, phlegm and all :) (really!) Which reminds me of the verse in Job "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return" (job 1:21)
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Subj: chant
Date: 95-07-21 10:56:59 EDT
From: StephenMo
and.....sorry all, the chant directly translated says "wow, that crowd at our concert at Messiah college was great. i wish we could go back."
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Prayer Requests:
In particular, there are many subscribers who are returning to college this month. Please pray for all of them, that they would seek God's will for their lives at this crucial time. Here is just one (honest) letter from one of them, there are many more!
From: RSJ Fan
To: Earthpots
Just prayers for my 1st yr of college-I'm nervous! Thanks!
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END