Afghanistan (2)
Bangladesh (5+)
Belarus (2)
China (2000+)
Egypt (1+)
Iran (360+)
Iraq (68+)
Malaysia (1+)
North Korea (30+)
Palestinian Authority (3)
Saudi Arabia (82+)
Somalia (6)
South Sudan (5)
Sudan (7+)
Syria (1+)
Taiwan (5)
UAE (1)
USA (43)
Vietnam (1+)
Yemen (41+)
*Countries that carried out capital punishments in 2011 according to Amnesty International.
My dear friend is a music director at a church here in the greater Seattle area. I asked him how he finds new music of the sacred/church variety and how he learns of concerts that may interest him. His answer was nuanced and difficult to enunciate as one would expect. He did, however, send me this gem as an example of the marketing noise I have to compete with as I hope to communicate The Opiate Mass to people such as himself. It is one of many unsolicited, faux-personal emails from Nashville promoters he receives in the inbox. He has never engaged with this person. I’m a few hundred exclamation points from making an impact.
Hello again!
Great speaking to you briefly earlier! I just wanted to check in and give you a few updates of artists that are slated to be up in Washington over the next few months. I’d love to work with you on something! So whether one of these seems like a good fit or if you have something else in mind, I’d love to hear from you!
Silverline (www.silverlinemusic.com) – I have Silverline in your area and available on August 7th. They are also bringing along Loftland to open. So you get an awesome package with this one!
Phil Stacey (www.philstacey.com) – Converge’s newest signing Phil Stacey (American Idol) is going to be in your area and we have a date to fill on August 24th. I’d love to get him out to you!
Sixteen Cities (www.sixteencities.com) – Sixteen Cities is going to be spending much of their fall on the west coast and it looks like we’ll hit Washington the first week of October.
Luke Dowler (www.lukedowler.com) – Have you had a chance to check out Luke’s latest video? If not you need to quickly jump onto his website and check it out. It’s the first step in a powerful campaign to help end slavery, Check it out! I’d love to get him over to you live as well, best times would probably be September 14-16 (band) or anytime surrounding November 11 (solo).
Andy Cherry (www.andycherry.com) – At this point I have no direct plans to have Andy up in Washington, but I’d love to make some! Andy is an incredible artist and worship leader! Hopefully you already got my newsletter talking about him already, but we are really excited about his new album and I’d love to get him up there!
Hopefully these updates are helpful to you! Looking forward to finding something that makes sense!
Andrew Jones
Now it is as simple as protecting the in$ightful words you use to describe your stupid product.*
*I propose that the dollar sign be used to indicate sarcasm. I don’t really think these words are “insightful” so I have indicated my exaggeration with the good old $. It is perhaps the most commonly mis-communicated form of speech, we need a shortcut to save us from confusion. Like when Rush called that birth-control-popping woman a slut, in his apology he told us he was being absurd. Absurdism is like sarcasm. If only he had told us he was ab$urd in context he could have saved himself a lot of apologizing—well, that one apology he coaxed out of himself. He is $uper.
Ideals are the excuses we make to not create.
They say most people don’t pay attention to the lyric, well here are thousands who do; on glorious display, carving up scripture, celebrating their disdain for the planet they’ve been given (see Jesus). To the songwriter’s discredit, he admits he is not a theologian. This humble self-awareness didn’t inform his choice to base a song on the crap belief that tsunamis are blessings that remind us that “this place is not our home”. This is bad theology. This is not helpful. This stadium is not where you belong. All theologies are a work-in-process; I too have penned songs espousing unhelpful ideas and opinions. Fortunately, I was not esteemed as mouthpiece for thousands of un-curious, frightened youth at the time. Maybe Christian Rockers should go through some formal theological training before they sign deals with Sparrow-Dove Records. Just enough so they know how dangerous the field is. How unlucky that Christian youth entertainers have near-zero standards for admission (good hair, ragged jeans, fists, Bible study experience) and are propped up higher than those in the clergy. I didn’t realize this industry still had any relevance—I thought the Bush Administration killed this off like everything else Poli-Culture-Evangelical (one of their greatest achievements really). Aside: he seems to think that “governments being overthrown” (the Arab Spring) are confusing godless disasters on par with earthquakes. Or perhaps he is just bad with rhetoric.
I was too scared of industrial music for most of my youth. Too bad for me. I wonder what type of artist I would be today if I hadn’t seen Hells Bells in 4th grade. I should forgive the filmmakers and my youth group for protecting me from good music.
Bon Iver won two Grammys that he didn’t want. Awards for art are dumb he said. I agree with most of his views and what Nick Cave said here to the MTV Music Awards back in 1996. Of course I’d love to win a Grammy but right now I tell myself that awards are not helpful or appropriate or necessary and that I’m too dignified to compete for recognition from a bunch of stranger-peers. George C. Scott is one of only a few people to ever refuse an Oscar outright, he said that acting wasn’t a competition. It is not. I’m ok with top ten lists, I’m ok with art criticism. Maybe nominations and winners and important two-minute speeches are the problem. Just name your winners and quit horsing about with pomp and circumstance and making claims that your awards are bigger than the rest or that you got it right because democracy is true and Forest Gump is better than Pulp Fiction.
As Mr. Cave put it: “My relationship with my muse is a delicate one at the best of times and I feel that it is my duty to protect her from influences that may offend her fragile nature.”
I can’t recall what initially convinced me to open license the music I make. I create songs which are meant to be enjoyed and used; this includes having it married to other amateur, personal creations. Once my music is purchased I have released control over how and when it is played. Perhaps it is playing at a strip club or Rush Limbaugh’s birthday bash at Rick Perry’s Niggerhead Ranch. Fred Phelps’ kids apparently love Mumford & Sons—how disgusting to have your music encouraging a team of professional gay-bashers. I briefly considered adding this to The Opiate Mass masthead: “If you hate gays, Arabs, immigrants, atheists, please do not buy our records,” but that would have precluded me a few years back. By nature, art is generous.
From what I can tell, this kid is not a gay-basher (as good a music video for this song as we ever could have done).
I finally met with the Music Director at St. James Cathedral. I was nervous, he said he was apprehensive if I recall. It was a discussion of tradition and modernity, purity and progress. Dr. Savage is twice my age, and has created beautiful sacred moments for thousands of people every year. His palette is the cathedral. I asked him to tell us his vision for contemporary music at St. James, which was code for—why don’t you let us bring in some loudspeakers and worship at volume, the kids will like it. They don’t have much use for amplified music, and for very good reason, they don’t need amplifiers. The space is a perfect acoustical environment, designed for choirs, orchestras, and their unmatched pipe organ (which, I learned has a real 32 foot pipe, not a synthesized one). All that is ever put to mic is the homily and perhaps a solo voice for the liturgy. Dr. Savage told us about the moment every Christmas Eve that a single boy sings from the loft and is heard in the ears of all 3,000 congregants. I wept. Me, I want loud massive chords filling every crevice. I want to feel the music and be emotionally gripped by immense overtones, tweaked oscillators, and rattling sub-woofers. I want cinema. (Well, sometimes. Our greatest achievement each set is the time of silence in the middle. To get there and back is no easy feat. It is exhilarating the few times we’ve done it right.) He mentioned the aesthetic divide that occurred in the 1920s when organs were slowly becoming electro-mechanical, and not just mechanical. Industry was impeding on humanity. It meant something for the space to serve the lone human, singing unaided to God; for an instrument to echo purely down the hall. Of course this is beauty. Of course this should be guarded. There are plenty of sacred spaces in Seattle for us to amplify and indulge our synthesized, high volume fetishes, why must we insist on converting St. James into another electronic venue. If years from now, St. James is hosting amplified music once a week at the expense of a full brass ensemble, I would be very sad. If all the soundtracks were produced on state-of-the-art string machines, films would be less lovely. One of the newest churches in Seattle is Bethany Community. They spent a mint on a board, speakers, microphones, effects, and wall treatment. We sound quite good there. Never mind how flat the space is to the eye. When will our city build another grand cathedral like St. James? I’d still like to play there, if just once. It is the most beautiful church I’ve ever seen. Maybe I’ll lock down an exclusive contract—one day a year they allow speakers through the doors, and of course we only use TicketMaster™. Surprisingly, I think I have a new hero. He wouldn’t let me apologize for my digital approach to sacred music and space. He insisted that I teach him something. We hugged. I think Tara stepped on his toe.
Sport is primarily a visual medium, and as such, sport production values should be placed alongside film and print and attended to with care and discretion. The Academy Awards rate and reward great work in costume and set design because how the actors look and where they act are important to the experience. Gotham City must be dark, and Batman cannot have nipples. The MLS policy that encourages the development and use of new (and ugly) kits every couple years, to me, indicates a lack of this understanding; a lack of care for a team’s legacy and identity. Certainly, jersey sales account for significant income for the teams and a new kit will sell better than an old one, but when this comes at the expense of class and custom, more is lost than gained. Case in point: the Sounders FC new third kit below. This kit causes eye strain. This kit is not going to be enjoyable to watch. People smirk when they see it. A kit should never be a distraction.
I have an emotional connection with my beloved team’s kit. My mental replays of goals and tackles and saves are dressed in that shade of green and blue. My memories of this kit should not be how bad I felt for the players who had to wear Skittles. The Lakers haven’t significantly changed their kit and logo since the 1960s. The legacy of that highly esteemed franchise is classy, not insecure and hokey like the Warriors who incidentally have changed their logo/kit six times in the same period. We voted against those trivial names they offered us—Alliance and Republic if I recall—because they had no meaning, no history. If the Seattle Alliance had orange kits there would have been a few thousand less fans on opening day. (It seems the MLS is learning that a fresh start for a club and city is not necessarily best; Portland was allowed to use the Timbers name straightaway). When a new player sits down for their first interview they almost always remark on their new surroundings, the city, and the legacy of the club. I am emotionally joined with our new starting striker the moment he dons the green and blue scarf and the flashbulbs pop. I love that shit. I have no idea what team Mauro is playing for here, but I am sure they are cheap and sucky.
An attention to aesthetic is not only for the kit, but the field, the stands, the scoreboard, the graphics, the advertisements, which all serve the beautiful experience of the beautiful game. When a soccer team plays on an NFL branded pitch, it looks wrong. When Sigi is wearing a sweatsuit to a match, I wonder what he makes a season. When the team hands out 10,000 inflatable noise-makers, I wonder if we know how to cheer. The NBA has rules about the players’ attire when they walk from the bus to the locker room. They look classy and expensive, not like junior highers. The NBA understands this (too bad they have little sense of game flow experience as seen in the obnoxious scoreboard cheer-leading the Sonics were dropping between every possession change). Now, before I err in the direction of draconian measures, I put equal expectation on Sigi to look good. Just because the league doesn’t enforce attire doesn’t mean he shouldn’t want to appear professional. And credit the Sounders organization for acknowledging the gaff with those damn noise-makers, and letting us write-in “Sounders” for the name.
I’ll get over this SuperCyan™ kit; it will only be used a dozen or so times ever, sadly in CONCACAF play.
George Clooney in an NPR Interview made the case for shaking Brad Pitt’s hand instead of taking a picture of it.
SNL makes the case for keeping your head out of your own ass with their Headz-Up app.
A friend was tweeting every three minutes over sushi and I felt bad asking him to stop. Maybe I won’t feel bad. May the cultural shift begin.
A bit of film from inside the upcoming art installation, Body Orthodoxy: A Sensual Education. Song by me and Tara.
God is the being capable of erasing the entire existence of everything ever in a single moment–no, it wouldn’t even take a moment. No one would even know it happened. It wouldn’t even happen. Everything gone, including the idea of everything, including the idea of gone, including ideas, including including. There would be nothing but God to observe to God that there was once something else. (Why bother). It is a most terrifyingly awesome thought. How about humans: sometimes we split atoms and incinerate cities. That is the best we have.
When my friends lost their baby the week we were all expecting him, my deepest and purest thought was to God and went a bit like this: tell us why you created this world the way you did, you idiot. I think this was a genuine lament. Christianity says that God welcomes laments, that God empathizes and in some way acts. I’ve become far too cavalier in my laments if I believe this. I’ll never know the answer to why, and I’ll never not want the answer to why. As soon as I say I’ll have it in Heaven then I’ve got an answer that buys me time and hey, why are you lamenting if you’ll have the answers in a few decades. What a silly game.
Henceforth: I think my lamenting should have a small sense that I could be in deep shit for telling God I think everything is wrong.
Once again I am in awe of my friend Bryan Free. His latest album, Red Queen, is staggeringly difficult to understand. If I think I like great music then I know I have to put in the time. My first few listens went down like stroganoff, the kind with mushrooms and onions and Russian detritus. I suspect the sales for this album will be poor. Too bad.
Maybe they should sell their songs to Coke, so we don’t have to endure these ridiculous knock-offs.
Paced, quiet, elegant. They make film-making look easy.
…than I already do.
I used to be a smugly about not owning a TV, well now I do and I love it. A gorgeous 32″ 1080p wi-fi enabled TV. It is my favorite form of entertainment and it makes my life better. I don’t read very much and I write these helpful blog posts.
Franco, stoned in this and every other scene, pokes his hitchhiking thumb through his zipper and exclaims: “hey look, it’s like my thumb is my cock”. That’s funny.
I couldn’t finish this or muster the courage to watch those Spy Kids movies, but it seems they are all made for nine-year-old people who aren’t ready for the sophisticated characters we find in the Pierce Brosnan spy catalog.
