Rolling Stone : Taking the Long Way : Review

So, I’ve been sitting on this blog for awhile. I’m not sure why. Maybe I don’t want to stir up a hornets’ nest of political talk back and forth. Maybe I’m not sure I want people to know just how much I’m impressed with the Dixie Chicks’ new CD. Regardless…

To be honest, I first listened to Taking the Long Way when it first came out, and obviously I didn’t listen very well. Truth be told, I was a little turned off by “THE COMMENT” fiasco, and all I could hear in the first single was that they were “still mad as hell…” yada yada yada. And I just wanted them to move on.

Well, let me just say: I was completely wrong.

A friend of mine started listening to the CD and wouldn’t stop talking about how great it was, so I slowly started listening more and more closely. Then, I started realizing that this is the first CD that they’ve co-written the whole record, which put a new spin on all those songs. Then, I realized some of the co-writers and the players (tom petty’s band members for starters) and Rick Rubin (among other things, producer to the latest Johnny Cash recordings) producing!

So, then I couldn’t get enough of it. THEN, I saw the documentary “Shut up and Sing” about the whole comment fiasco.

Now, I wasn’t really a fan of the comment. But, even if I think it might have been sort of a dumb thing to say at that particular moment, I think you’re pretty much allowed to say as dumb a thing as you want.

The documentary really showed how this dumb little comment blew WAY out of proportion and context. But, what it really did for me was show me even more where these songs were coming from and wow are they great songs.

And finally, I want to celebrate this whole story because it’s really a triumph of art over commerce.

This dumb comment, and the dumb way it was exploited, turned their fan base against them. When they realized that they didn’t have their fan base or support anymore, they said “screw it. let’s make the best record we can make talking about the things that are important to us and take it to whoever will listen.” And they did.

5 Grammies later, for once in a lifetime, following your muse and disregarding the almighty green worked out.

 

NAMA XII- Announcing the Nominees

Well, much to the chagrine of a certain some one with the initials of my beloved Star Wars, and to the surprise of myself; I’m up for best singer/songwriter-Male in the Northwest Arkansas Music Awards again.

I still don’t know how these nominations work, but I’m very grateful to whoever keeps me in the picture.

I guess I was nominated last year, but didn’t even find out about it in time for me to vote, let alone motivate the masses of adoring friends/fans who read this little blog.

Voting isn’t open yet, but keep an eye on the link above as I think it’ll be open in the next week or two. If you’re so inclined, feel free to cast for yours truly…

 

Who killed the electric car?

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Just watched this movie. Too pissed off and frustrated to talk about it right now. If you don’t want to know who killed the car without watching it, I won’t tell you who, but I’ll tell you want:

Greed, materialism, stupidity.

Instead of ultra-clean, cheaply run electric cars driving on the road for the last 10 years, what do we have? Hummers.

 

blogging

My problem is that whenever I start to write something, it starts getting really long and then I get tired of writing and want to quit, but then I’m frustrated with what actually made it onto the blog.

Random things that I’m going to not write very much about:

-Last night, my best friend from college called me to let me know that he’s officially out of full-time ministry and that he’s investigating new career paths. We talked some about how we went to Bible college with a pretty tight-knit group of 4 guys who all received degrees in music ministry. All are talented, intelligent, personable, faithful and would profoundly bless ANY church they worked for. And yet, not a single one of them is now working in full time music ministry or any other kind of ministry. My friend and I discussed the possibility that there’s something horribly wrong with the whole concept of vocational ministry; particularly music ministry. We discussed the fact working in full-time music ministry caused a moral dilemma that in order to do it as required would entail living dishonestly and actually “selling out.”

The interesting thing is that I know many people in full-time music ministry. They seem sincere and passionate in their vocation and ministry, but most also seem pretty shallow in the way they live their life.

From one perspective, I’m pretty proud that the 4 guys I graduated with are no longer in ministry because they’re actually too honest to be able to live with the tensions that vocational music ministry requires. Ok, I’ve broke my rule and written too much on this.

-This morning, while driving to my sub job, I started thinking about what it would be like if my dad were alive and how he would interact with Ivy and how much I would love to see that. It’s been 13 years now, and sometimes thinking about how much of my life I am unable to share with my dad hurts so much. I had to turn up the music and start thinking about something else so that the tears in my eyes wouldn’t start flowing and make it hard to see.

-I feel like I’m gearing up for job hunting. In the next few months, many school districts will be getting their contracts signed for next year and will start getting ideas for where they’re going to need positions. I hate it. I don’t want to go out and find a job, I just want somebody to give me one. I often think that one of the reasons I didn’t accomplish more as a musician was because I just can’t stomach self-promotion enough. And here I am trying to sell myself as a teacher. The fact is that last summer, I suspected that I could/would be a good teacher. Now, after subbing so much since the beginning of the year, (and I truly believe and I think most teachers agree, that subbing is WAY harder than teaching) I’m convinced that I would be one of the better teachers. If somebody would just give me a freaking job…

-I’m reading the Green Mile again. I’ve needed something to read while I’m baby-sit…I mean subbing. I still think that Stephen King is a great novelist.