Supporting Friends Friday: Frederick Ingram’s “Initial Exposure”

Just last week I wrote about my friend Frederick Ingram‘s new Christmas jam, “Jesus of Nazareth (Walked into a Bar).”  What I didn’t realize is that the tune was a part of a new album—really a double EP—that Frederick has been quietly assembling.

(Note that I’ll refer to Frederick Ingram as “Frederick” here on out, as I know him personally and consider him a friend.  I know the standard is to use the artist’s last name in subsequent mentions, and if some big city alternative paper picks up this review, I’ll happily edit it accordingly.  For this blog, though, I’m keeping it on a the first-name basis. —TPP)

The record—which drops today!—is Initial Exposure, and it combines tracks from two EPs from earlier this year:  June 2021’s Initial Exposure and November 2021’s Culture Exposure (which features the song about Jesus delivering His Message in a hopping nightspot).

I’ll confess that, at the time of writing, I have not listened to all of the ten tracks on the LP (but I did buy it on Bandcamp!), though I have heard several of them before, both live and recorded versions.  As such, this post is not a review of the album, per se, but instead a way to help give Initial Exposure some, uh, initial exposure.

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Supporting Friends Friday: Frederick Ingram’s Christmas Groove

Today is the day of the big Christmas concert at school, and despite some moments of despair earlier in the week, I am feeling cautiously optimistic about the whole thing.  The kids are going to do a wonderful job, I am sure; I’m more worried about getting all of the tech stuff done in time, but it will happen, one way or another.

That said, it’s going to be a short Supporting Friends Friday this week—at least for me.  You, dear reader, get to listen to six minutes and twenty-four seconds of an excellent new Christmas track from my good buddy Frederick Ingram.

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Supporting Friends Friday: Audre’s New Blog

In hindsight, it seems inevitable, but somehow, Audre Myers went all this time writing without a blog of her own.  She’s long been a contributor to Nebraska Energy Observer and the comment sections of The Conservative Woman (and this blog), but to my knowledge, she never hosted a blog of her own.

Well, that’s all changed.  This past weekend she launched her own blog, Words on the Word.  It’s a Biblical commentary blog in which Audre posts a section of Scripture and provides her analysis of it, and how it pertains to our lives.

As Audre puts it:  “The plan is, I’ll write my thoughts as they pertain to the day’s New Testament reading for Morning Prayer.”

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Lazy Sunday CXXXVIII: Friends, Part V

Another month has passed, meaning I have three more editions of Supporting Friends Friday to bring back to your attention.  Coming on the heels of yet another Bandcamp Friday sales pitch, it only seems fitting to go in the other direction and highlight friends, rather than my self-indulgent work.

So, without further ado, here are some writers you should check out:

  • Supporting Friends Friday: Whipped Owl” – Whipped Owl is a blogger from New England who appears to have gotten started in September of this year, and has since been churning out posts frequently.  He describes himself as a writer, musician, historian, sportsman, and loner, and his recent posts attest to some of these qualities:  he has a band, Blabpipe; he writes book reviews of historical works; and every Monday he reviews heavy metal bands.  He also writes quite a bit of poetry.  Check him out!
  • Supporting Friends Friday: Helen Liptak” – Mrs. Liptak is a former colleague of mine, and she is a lively writer (and teacher!).  She recently published a piece of fiction  entitled “The Vicar or the View,” and the story is indicative of her charming, engaging writing style.
  • Supporting Friends Friday: Son of Sonnet” – Son of Sonnet is a poet friend of mine who writes, well, sonnets.  His work will now be featured on this blog the first and third Wednesdays of the month (you can read his first contribution here).  His sonnets are subtle, insightful, and biting.  Some readers detect a certain noted of cynicism in them.  Perhaps.  What I do know is that they’re quite good.

Well, that’s it for another Lazy Sunday.  Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Supporting Friends Friday: Son of Sonnet

The other day I wrote about Quiz Bowl, and briefly mentioned my glory days on middle school Academic Team.  Some things about ourselves never change—I’m coaching quiz bowl over twenty years later—but many, thankfully, do.

For me, an important change is my attitude towards poetry.  As a doughy middle schooler, I thought poetry was terrible.  To my chubby past self’s credit, a great deal of what is presented as poetry is terrible.  Indeed, much of it is worse than bathroom stall doggerel, which at least has to rhyme; possess a sense of rhythm; and be funny.

My appreciation for poetry began to turn around sometime in high school, and continued through college, but even after I started writing my own songs, I still mostly thought poetry was garbage, even as I snapped along politely while waiting my turn to play at various open mic nights.  A few important people helped change my mind:  Jeremy Miles; the folks at Dragon Common Room; and the subject of today’s Supporting Friends FridaySon of Sonnet.

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Lazy Sunday CXXXIV: Friends, Part IV

Well, I’ve finally gotten enough new editions of Supporting Friends Friday to do another retrospective.  This weekend’s posts include the most recent three editions, and they’re all writers:

Well, that’s it for another Lazy Sunday.  Here’s hoping yours is relaxing, too!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments: