I’m loving this song “King Of The Ball” from Soma Music‘s The Story, Volume 2. I love the line, “a beautiful circus of crazies and freaks.” I would love for our church family to be able to sing that at the top of our longs with children dancing around us and know that God is glorious, so we don’t have to worry about what other people think; He is gracious so we don’t have to try and prove ourselves, He is good so we don’t have to look for comfort/satisfaction anywhere else and He great, so we don’t have to try and be in control.

Eat, drink and be merry, because God is good. Oh, what a party, oh what a feast! A beautiful circus of crazies and freaks.

I used to do a podcast with a great friend of mine. It was called the Habañero Hour and we played a lot of music we liked and interviewed some of the people who made that music. We focused a lot on the relationship between Christian faith and artistic expression.

Then we stopped doing the podcast and started hosting house shows. If you’re not sure what a “house show” is; it’s exactly what it sounds like: we host concerts in homes. We’ve been able to meet lots of those people whose music we played and interviewed for the podcast but since then, the focus has become much broader. We want to help promote the arts in suburban Arizona. Good luck, right? Actually, we’ve been tremendously blessed to host some tremendous house shows (and we want to start partnering with all kinds of other artists as well but we’re not there yet).

In fact, we’re working on scheduling house shows for the Fall right now. We’ve already announced the return of David Ramirez and watch for more announcements soon. In the meantime, here are some great moments from past house shows:

Here is Seryn performing “So Within”

 

Shawn Skinner: “Charlie and William”

 

 

 
Chris Bathgate: “Big Ghost”

 

Aaron Spiro: “Are You Coming?”

 
What have been your favorite Habañero Collective house show moments?

I love live music and I was tremendously blessed to see some great live music this year. Honorable mentions include Zoo Animal, seeing Calexico with my wife at a rodeo venue, finally seeing Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives, and seeing Lucero for the first time with Mark and remembering why I don’t like drunk college guys.

But the three stand-out performances this year were something different. And trust me, I don’t say this just to toot my own horn. My three favorite concerts of the year were all house shows that we were able to host!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, Aaron Spiro at the Thomas Listening Room (10/22/11)

Second: Chris Bathgate at the White N Leaf House (11/29/11)

and: Seryn at the Thomas Listening Room (06/26/11)

And mad props to the amazing Kha Do for the incredible camera work on two of these videos. Can you tell which one he didn’t do?

Aaron Spiro: House Show: Hold On.

Thanks to the amazing Kha Do for this great footage of Aaron Spiro at a recent Habañero Collective House Show at the Thomas Listening Room:

We are so pleased to welcome Aaron Spiro for a very special house show. If you happen to be in town for the Together For Adoption conference in October, please consider making the trek to the other side of town to join us for this great night of live music.

Spiro leads music at Soma Communities in Tacoma, WA and is an accomplished recording artist.

Please join us at The Thomas Listening Room (the home of Brent and Kristi Thomas – 5236 W. Oraibi, Glendale, AZ 85308), Saturday, October 22 at 7:30pm.

Please RSVP here at the event’s Facebook page, by telephone: 623.412.0977 or by e-mail: mark[at]habanerohour[dot]c​om.

Children are welcome if they are old enough to listen respectfully. Otherwise, we kindly ask that you find childcare. Thank you for understanding. Please invite friends who will, in turn, invite their friends. The more the merrier. And don’t we all want to be merry?

There is a $5.00 suggested donation (all proceeds go to the artists). Please help us to be able to continue to host great live music by being generous.

Here is Spiro performing “Are You Coming?”

Here is “Pearl of Great Price”