review « Oddwalk Ministries

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December 29, 2010

Shannon’s Top 15 of 2010

by oddwalk — Categories: NCCYM, NCYC, oddwalkia, pOddcast, random, review, shrine, travel, video, website, YSP — Leave a comment

Well, it’s that time of year again. Time for me to select my top Oddblog posts for each month of 2010. In a few of the months, it was difficult to pick just one, so I didn’t. Feel free to praise me, disagree, or offer your own list. Happy reading!!

JANUARY
While we didn’t blog much in January, this post about how my wife was vowing to update the “Cerneka Family Adventures” blog on more of a regular basis DID produce a funny picture of two of our kids, Madeleine and Noah.

http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=5311

FEBRUARY
Summoning a bit of inexplicable post-Olympic Canadian pride, this post finds us offering our rendition of “Oh, Canada!”, the national anthem for our friends to the north

http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=5683

MARCH
During the 2009 National Catholic Youth Conference, which had taken place four months before, Oddwalk had a number of cool liturgical and performance opportunities. The following posts are from two of those moments. “These Are the Chords…” is from when we played a warm-up concert for a Concurrent Session which featured Fr. Tony Ricard. “Bless the Lord, My Soul” is from one of the two daily Masses we played for.

“These Are the Chords…”: http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=5711
“Bless the Lord, My Soul”: http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=5743

APRIL
So…there was only one post in April. Sadly, it was a post about how we hadn’t posted in a while. Enjoy!!

http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=5777

MAY
During this month, the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows (where Orin works) sponsored a retreat led by well-known speaker and author, Joyce Rupp. The following video was shown during that retreat.

http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=5818

JUNE
In June, the Cernekas headed to the Smokey Mountains for a family vacation. We’re not sure what prompted Noah in this moment. Was it the Holy Spirit? Boredom? Cabin (literally) fever? You decide!

http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=5888

JULY
Each year, during the last week of June, The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows sponsors a Christian music/theater camp called Youth Sing Praise. While I have helped with it in the past, Orin and his wife Erin get to help ever year. Here is a song from last year’s production of “Moses”.

http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=5914

AUGUST
Picking this month’s post was kind of difficult. On one hand, if I’m thinking with the Oddwalk part of my brain, I would have to choose the release of “Failure”, our collection of NCYC theme song entries which were not selected. If I’m thinking with the personal side of my brain, I would no doubt choose the post about Madeleine’s first day of Kindergarten. I decided to include both posts here. I’m sure I will get in trouble for this.

“Failure”: http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=6093
Kindergarten: http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=6159

SEPTEMBER
Chris Weber is an Iowa-based friend of Oddwalk and recent winner of a bet with Shannon concerning the outcome of the Insight Bowl. (Shannon and his Mizzou tigers lost). Chris alerted his twitter followers to this pic, suggesting that it demanded a caption contest. We decided to oblige him.

http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=6260

OCTOBER
This month gave us a great example of what love and sacrifice are all about. The man featured in this story is a former neighbor of Orin and Erin.

http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=6346

NOVEMBER
Two of Oddwalk’s performances in November were featured in news articles. The first comes from our appearance at the Junior High Youth Rally for the Charleston Diocese in South Carolina. The second comes from a concert we did at Holy Childhood Catholic Church in Mascoutah, IL.

Charleston: http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=6449
Mascoutah: http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=6472

DECEMBER
This month found us in New Orleans, LA for the National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry. While there was some amount of work involved, this was mostly a chance to catch up with friends and take advantage of some cool performance opportunities. The following posts feature Orin and I (and my family in one video) dancing, being hams, and playing music.

GregCast and Flash Mob: http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=6511
Exhibit Hall Stage and YM Extravaganza: http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/?p=6541

November 10, 2009

“Orin” and “Superb” in the same sentence? No, Really!

by oddwalk — Categories: good news, music, review, SLCC — Leave a comment

Most of Oddwalkia knows that Orin’s full time ministry is Coordinator of Music and Liturgy at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. Some of you now know, from a post a few days ago, that Orin also accompanies services at a Reform Jewish congregation in suburban St. Louis.

Fewer, but maybe some, of you know he is also one of the Assistant Directors of the St. Louis Chamber Chorus. The Artistic Director, Philip Barnes, is on a sabbatical year this season, and is leaving much of the responsibilities of the chorus to Orin and the other assistant, Mary Chapman.

Orin spent a lot of the last month studying music, rehearsing the chorus, and getting ready for the concert presented this past Sunday. The concert went very well, and the review yesterday hit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Among other positive quotes is this one:

The prep was done by assistant conductor Orin Johnson, who . . . did a superb job, with only one month to prepare an intensely challenging program.

Woot! Really though, it was the singers themselves that did most of the heavy lifting, especially given the dense repertoire of this particular concert. Read the whole review here.

October 21, 2008

"Walk Away Different" Reviewed

by oddwalk — Categories: GIA, review — Leave a comment

Published just a few days ago at gvonline.net -

Reviewed by Sally Bolderson

Shannon Cerneka and Orin Johnson are the duo that bring to life “Oddwalk Ministries”, who are represented by GIA Publications, Inc. Their purpose is “to help young and old alike embrace life as Eucharistic people through fun, upbeat and interactive music and witnessing.” Rooted in the Midwest in Illinois and Missouri, you will find them leading retreats and workshops as well as entertaining at concerts and coffee houses.

On Walk Away Different, their 4th CD together, they bring to light a more intimate depth of their relationship with God. In previous projects they have leaned more to the songs that would appeal to a younger audience with fun and frivolity. On Walk Away Different I get a sense of their reaching out to a broader audience with messages that could speak to young and old. There is a great variety here with songs of hope, pleading and challenge among the 16 tracks of this record. You will find upbeat pieces that will have you tapping your toes and then in another moment, contemplating your walk of faith with a soft, meditative song that will touch your heart.

The various adaptations of popular psalms are always welcome and are represented well on this CD. As a liturgical music minister, I can appreciate having options when it comes to the sung psalms and find their renditions of six well known psalms to be very congregational friendly. I will surely use them in my own parish setting. I found the vocals to be very good and the addition of Sarah Bauer on many of the tracks is wonderful. Her sweet yet strong vocals add depth to these selections. Being a fan of harmony, I was very pleased to hear very nice harmonies throughout Walk Away Different.

As I listened to the CD I heard overtones of other very successful liturgical writers such as the St. Louis Jesuits, David Haas and Marty Haugen.

My favorites vary as much as the selection of songs on this CD. I found myself straying away a time or two from my listening through the first several tracks until I came to “Get It Together.” Once I heard that song, I could feel the passion and energy that would be typical of a live performance with this duo. Unlike the first 6 songs that were nice enough, but also forgetful, “Get It Together” stood out and got my attention. Likewise was the song “I Give My Spirit” which I found to be a haunting and extremely powerful rendition of Psalm 31. The deliberate tempo and strong vocals really drew me into this song, not to mention the theme that we all encounter so often . . . our brokenness and our pleas to God for help. Of note as well, is a great Eucharistic song, entitled “Share” which would work well in any congregation for a Communion song.

Overall, I found Walk Away Different to be full of great themes of our faith, admitting our weakness, understanding God as our Savior in the Trinity, challenging us to move to the Light, move where God wants us to be. I think there is something here for everybody with direct and to the point messages. I feel that this CD will make great strides in becoming a staple in any liturgical music minister’s music library. The songs are simple and would be easily worked into your choir’s music repertoire. You can purchase Walk Away Different through GIA Music at www.giamusic.com/products/P-725.cfm.