Bands

Well, I suppose I should have, since I was 'raised Catholic' and grew up listening to (and loving) The Beatles:

John Lennon's Pact with Satan

A book by Joseph Niezgoda - The Lennon Prophecy, A New Examination of the Death Clues of the Beatles - makes a good case for John Lennon making a pact with Satan in exchange for fame and fortune. The author is a first generation Beatle fan, has read every book out on the rock group, and admits conflict with his love of the music and the evil that he perceives surrounds it. His book - a 15-year project - was an effort, he said, to try to define or make sense of that evil.

In fact, this is the book I was always planning to write about the Beatles. Since I threw out my Beatles albums along with the rest of my rock music many years ago, I've been gathering facts about the clues and signs of a Satanic link, evidence of camaraderie with occultists and their dabbling with the occult. Believe me, plenty exists.

Man, it just gets better from there.

Jim Downey

Even PZ makes an appearance!

Carll Hayes is a Houston musician who spent a few years kicking around Crystal Beach in Texas and playing the bars, honing his songwriting and performances. He's also the kind of artist that makes me excited about, and gives me hope for country music again. Key lyrics in the chorus:

She left me for Jesus and that just ain’t fair
She says that he’s perfect how could I compare
She says I should find him and I’ll know peace at last
If I ever find Jesus, I’m kickin’ his ass

Heheh... Enjoy.

A few weeks ago my brother invited us to come out and see him play at a popular country & western steakhouse called "San Tan Flat". San Tan Flat is a fun, family place. There is a large outdoor area where you can sit and have dinner, and where the band plays. There's also a small, circular dance floor in front of the stage.

Now, Mrs. Inscrutable and I like to cut a rug now and then, and I was excited to be able to dance with her this time. "Man," I said to my brother, "It's been a while since we've been able to come out and see you play! It'll be fun to dance!"

"You can't dance there," said Mike. "It's against the law."

More below the fold...

I have a bit of a cold and its snowing here again. However, when I saw this on Ed's site, I instantly felt better. Laughter is the best medicine.

(*with apologies to Steely Dan)

So, a couple days ago, I was hitting some of my usual haunts, and on MeFi came across a link to something truly amazing: the most advanced personal energy system available today!

Personal energy system? Huh? Some kind of new sports drink? Maybe a reworked diet fad? Or a new way to charge your, uh, personal massagers?

Nope. They're talking Sympathetic Resonance Technology! Wow! Even the name is impressively scientifical! What is Sympathetic Resonance Technology? I'm glad you asked:

The Q-Link’s fundamental technology can be understood by imagining a tuning fork that vibrates at a certain pitch. Similarly, the Q-Link’s Sympathetic Resonant Technology™ (SRT™) is tuned to optimize the human energy system through resonance. As it interacts with your biofield, it leads to a rebalancing and restoration according to your individual needs.

OK, I can't honestly decide whether this is a joke or not, but Pam over at Pandagon has up a wonderful piece (with embedded vid - I'll leave that up to Brent whether he wants to do that with this) about this group that has everyone scratching thier heads. Why? Because it is either brilliant parody, or cringingly-painful religiosity. Here's part of the lyrics:

“God hates a fag…Read your bible, and you’ll be sure — to enter heaven, there’s no backdoor. Righteous man, get on your knees, there lies no virtue in so-do-my. Lord you are my shield, stay me through the fight, shelter me from urges and help me see the light.”

You gotta see this - bloody hilarious. Whether intentionally so or not, I'll leave for you to decide.

Jim Downey

I discovered a great blog by Brendan Skwire. Brendan is, and I quote:

[Brendan Skwire] I’m a writer, musician, beer-drinker, politics maven, and loudmouth living in Philadelphia.

I love music. I'm a mediocre guitar player and a pretty good vocalist who never pursued a music career because a.) I'm too stage-shy to actually sing anything alone, and b.) I have about a thousand and thirty-seven kids that I am supporting so I can't be "partying like a rock star" all the damn time.

Brendan is an absolutely addictive writer who also used to play in "the worlds first (and only) Bluegrass Thrashmetal Punk band" called "UncleFucker". UncleFucker was the band that opened for Courtney Love the night she got arrested for beaning some guy with another band's guitar player's borrowed guitar.

The thing that hooked me with Brendan is his take on country music. like me, Brendan is a country music aficionado, and a bluegrass fan.

Weird, huh? It blew me away too. I love bluegrass, and more often than not, my station is tuned to a country music station.

In any case, the following post turned me into a Brendan fan:

[Brendan Skwire] All country music is addictive if you ask me, from the bluegrass and old time I first fell in love with, to 1950s honky tonk, western swing, the Nashville sounds, Bakersfield, the Outlaws. Even some of the stuff I turned up my nose at during the punk rock 80s now actually sounds OK in retrospect. As I've made clear earlier, I like a lot of the contemporary songs out there too. I just can't understand why a station like WXTU, which has a monopoly on the country fan's ear can't squeeze a little George Jones in there with the Shania. Is it too much to ask for even a 10-midnight Sunday night Classic Country slot?

And this gets to I really believe. Classic country doesn't deserve to be shunted to a Sunday night ghetto. Everything needs to be jumbled together in a mishmosh, Flatt and Scruggs following Lonestar following Toby Keth following Waylon following Shania. There's a fine station, 101.3 near Syracuse NY that plays a fine mix of classic and contemporary country.

There is no comparing dreck like "Mr Mom" to Patsy Cline's "Crazy", but you never hear Patsy on WXTU. NEVER. "Crazy" is a damn classic song; it should be getting played every day, in the regular mix. Same with Hank Williams (all 3 of them), George Jones, Bill Monroe. In short, play all of it, everything from Alan Jackson to the Stanley Brothers. And the Louvin Brothers. God bless the Louvin Brothers.

Regardless of it's drenched-in-god-talk reputation, I still love country music. Even the new artists at least try and express themselves in real ways, with real emotions, and lyrics that you can fucking understand. I love acoustic guitar music, and country music is rich with an acoustic tradition that the rock genre can't touch. Bluegrass music has the ability to make me cry sometimes. I can sit and listen to Alison Krauss or Nickel Creek for hours. I like the harmonies and the acoustic feel to the music. It lifts me up and makes me happy when I listen to it. I even have the Bluegrass station on my Sirius radio programmed into one of my presets.

Don't get me wrong, I listen to a lot of metal, hard rock, classic rock, and alternative rock too - but I'll always have my country music to fall back on.

Check out Brendan Calling - especially his "Geatest Hits" section in the right-hand sidebar which features selections from his now-defunct Blogspot blog. You'll most likely get hooked by his great, evocative writing, and his eclectic musical tastes, just like I was. This is what blogging is all about, in my opinion.

First, I apologize for not posting in a while. My company has had me on a grueling travel schedule. For the past few weeks I have often had to ask the people I am working with what city I am in!

So, where do you get your music? It is not something that most people think about. You hear a song on the radio or TV and like it, so you go to a local music store and you purchase it. But most people are not aware that the music sold by the major record labels generates virtually no money for the artists who actually make the music. A typical CD sale in a music store costs you about $12-$15 and the artist in most cases earns less than one dollar. A major-label song sold on iTunes generates only pennies for the artist.

Why? Because when an artist signs with a record label it is at the beginning of their career when their earning potential is unknown and their eagerness high. The contracts they sign require them to pay for just about every aspect of their career and to even repay the record label for investments they've made before they can see any income themselves. So, even if a record label earns tens of millions of dollars on an artist, that artist is still required to repay the record label for recording costs, travel, just about everything. And the record label retains the rights to your songs, sometimes forever. If this doesn't sound all that pleasant an employment agreement, you are correct. This is why most artists signed to major labels make most of their money from touring and merchandising. Unfortunately, the record labels are trying to tap into those sources of revenue as well to try and collect more revenue on top of their failing business model.