The Dixie Chicks, These Ain't

This post is
Dedicated to the Lightbulb and his wife and other haters of country music wherever they may be found....

In the office, I sometimes tune to Accuradio.com. The free internet radio has interesting offerings. For example, there's the main 80s station, but there are also four other choices. That's five different channels of Eighties music. (Who'd have thought?) But under country music, Accuradio offers no less than seventeen sub-channels: marriage songs, married (but not to each other), songs about families, songs by men, songs by women, etc.

I wanted to take just a moment to note one of these categories: Red White & Blue Country. I've always believed that no group in the entertainment business loved this nation more than its country singers (with some exceptions). But I had no idea how many songs were out there on the subject. Many of these are post-9/11.

Consider these titles:

1. This Ain't No Rag, it's a Flag (Charlie Daniels)
2. Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (Toby Keith)
3. Star Spangled Banner (versions by Faith Hill, Leann Rhimes, and Ricochet--the Glad of country music; click here MR. LIGHTBULB to hear the song).
4. My Lucky Stars & Stripes
5. Arlington (about the cemetery--sung from the point of view of one buried there)
6. Travelin' Soldier
7. A Soldier's Prayer
8. Where the Stars & Stripes & the Eagle Fly
9. Days of America
10. Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning? (about 9/11)
11. One Last Time
12. In America
13. Country Boy Can Survive (Hank Williams, Jr.)
14. America Will Survive (Hank's post 9/11 remake)
15. Homeland
16. You Got to Stand for Something
17. Something to Be Proud of
18. Private Malone
19. Forty-Hour Week (Alabama)
20. Letters from Home
21. Come Home Soon
22. God Bless the USA (Lee Greenwood's classic)
23. Hey Hollywood (a complaint about anti-American rants from movie stars and etc.)
24. Hey Mr. President (we stand with you)


I started making a list once and it got pretty long, so I thought I would share it. Some of these songs are pretty good, and not easy to find on traditional radio.

Are there others? What great songs about America am I missing? Let me know if you have a favorite.

God bless the veterans, the troops, and the USA.
(And may God bless you and yours.)

Congratulate Taylor Hicks...

Click here. It should not come as a surprise.

Aww Man, You Shoulda Seen it...

I just came from the 2006 Talent Show at my daughter's elementary school. All the kids were sweet and precious--karate acts, gymnastics routines with pounding back beat rhythms, etc. But I was so proud of Daddy's little girl. She's only in second grade, but she's wanted to be in the talent show since last year. It was wonderful. She played Beethoven's Ode to Joy--in an arrangement for young piano students--and her piano teacher took the time to come and play the duet accompaniment (which added a lot, no doubt). I was so proud of Twila for her ambition and the follow-through--being by nature shy in large groups. And the duet was just perfect. After all the MC Hammer acts and all the noise (and feedback on the speakers), something pure and simple on the piano was a beautiful contrast. I loved it, both as a father and as an audience member. I really was proud of her, and just had to mention it.

And that is not to say she's a virtuoso. I think she's an normal 8-year-old pianist: she likes to play but practicing is sort of hit-or-miss. But with extracurricular activities, just being involved and staying with it is enough. Whether it's piano, basketball, tee-ball, or whatever. I just want my kids to have fun and to learn about effort and endurance. That's what makes the difference in the long run, isn't it? Talent plays a role, but not quitting is the real key. Like Churchill said when London was being bombed into rubble night after night after night:

Never, never, never, never,

never give up.

Press Release on Da Vinci Code film:

Isn't this interesting....

JEWS AGAINST ANTI-CHRISTIAN DEFAMATION

URGES BOYCOTT OF THE DA VINCI CODE

May 15, 2006
For Immediate Release
For More Information, Contact: Bryan Rudnick at (561) 499-3201 or Don Feder at (508) 405-1337

Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation today urged a boycott of The Da Vinci Code, scheduled to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday and open in the U.S. on Friday.

“Director Ron Howard assures us that the film will be true to the book,” said JAACD President Don Feder. “That means it will be an insult to nearly a billion people worldwide.”

Feder commented: “As Jews, we’re in a unique position. While we don’t worship Jesus or pray in his name, we take exception to a work of fiction which trivializes the beliefs of our Christian friends and neighbors. The Da Vinci Code treats the life of Jesus like a soap opera.”

Dan Brown’s book, which sold more than 45 million copies in the U.S., also maligns Judaism.

Feder observes, “On page 309, Brown’s protagonist claims Jewish men visited the Holy Temple in Jerusalem to achieve ‘spiritual wholeness’ by having sex with ‘priestesses.’ The Torah absolutely condemns the ritual prostitution practiced by the Canaanites. To call Brown’s bizarre theory an attack on Judaism (and – by extension – Judeo Christian morality) is an understatement.”

Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation also notes the disturbing parallels between The Da Vinci Code and The Protocols Of The Elders of Zion. Feder: “Like The Protocols, The Code projects an international conspiracy to conceal the truth, in order to maintain control of humanity. In one case the conspirators are Jewish leaders and, in the other, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.”

Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation urges the public not to reward Hollywood bigotry by buying a ticket to The Da Vinci Code, but instead to treat it with the scorn it deserves by boycotting the Sony Pictures film.

Feder will speak at a press conference sponsored by The Interfaith Coalition Against The Da Vinci Code, on Wednesday, May 17 at 1:30 pm at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Speakers will include Dr. Ted Baehr of The Christian Film and Television Commission and Austin Ruse of The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute.

He will also appear on Fox News Live at 2:50 pm (EST) that day.

For more information on Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation, visit our website, http://www.jews4fairness.org/.

Say Goodbye to Elliot Yamin

Er, maybe. But the predicted results are within the margin of error.

Chris Daughtry Was Robbed.

I don't know if it fits the theme of this blog, but there's more to me than highbrows. Yeah, my wife and I love American Idol. (Every singer and would-be singer I know watches--some in secret.) Here's a run-down: Kelly Clarkson was so versatile, but during season one I still thought AI was just like all the other unscripted so-called "reality" shows--so I didn't watch. Then I heard Clay Aiken's season two audition. Key word: heard. For me, it's all about the voices, although the presentation matters. But Clay's voice was unique.

UNIQUE: adj. one of a kind.

Then there was Fantasia. Her voice was always a little odd, but great nonetheless, and what made her special was her styling, her creativity. Last year was fun with Bo Bice and Carrie Underwood (another singer who could do it all). This year my favorite during auditions was Taylor. He is fun and always interesting and great and refreshing. But then I heard Chris Daughtry. Again, key word here: heard. And what a voice. Unique.

You know what they say about avoiding songs that are too closely associated with some great singer? Katherine McPhee, for example, suffered when she sang a Whitney song but not as well as Whitney. And this is a huge problem on a live television show. It's hard for any live performance to match a product that's been polished and refined in a recording studio. But Chris Daughtry never had such problems. Every time Chris began singing I found myself preferring his voice to the original. And tonight he got cut.

Oh well, I've always said American Idol might be more foolproof if we were calling to vote people off. But who knows? In the end, it's just another game show. Just another bit of so-called "reality" television. And it just happens to be one of the most moral, most entertaining, most compelling shows out there. But I may skip the rest of this season. (And what happened to Mandisa? She deserved better.) I think we all know Taylor's going to win. And I like him. But--the music business all comes down to what you hear. I hope Taylor's voice is enough after it's stripped of all that personality and showmanship (and Taylor's great there; don't get me wrong).

But Chris Daughtry was extraordinary and I hate to see him go. Then again--if they gave Josh Gracin a record deal, they'll give Chris one--here's hoping the album can do what so few AI albums have ever done, and capture just a little of the quality that made him great on the show. Clay's albums, for example, lacking the drama of a singer trying to win a huge competition, have largely been a dissapointment.

Chris Daughtry, you will be missed.

P.S. Okay, so he wasn't robbed. In fact, it was predicted by a telephone busy-signal tracker called DialIdol.com. (Would be nice to see those results from the Aiken-Studdard contest.)

Please Knock.

I bought this house. The previous owners had an open-door policy. The entire neighborhood was welcome. People would wander in and out at all hours of the day and night. Everybody liked to Pop in. Like Seinfeld's description of Kramer:

Oh, he loves the Pop-In. He's big on the Pop-In.

But when I moved in, I started locking my doors. Is that wrong? Is it wrong for a homeowner to want to regulate the traffic coming in and out, to assert some control over the movement of goods and services? People are still welcome, you understand. Our policy is Come One, Come All! But knock first.

Knock and it shall be opened.

Doesn't every homeowner do the same? Is there a nation on earth that doesn't control its borders the way I control my front and back doors? Is there a nation anywhere that doesn't hang out a sign like mine:

PLEASE KNOCK.

Tired of Tremulous Tenors

I like this article.

Have you noticed the improvement in Contemporary Christian music? There have always been great songs and talented singers. Michael W. Smith, for example, was an accomplished writer of church music before he was famous. But at some point I just lost interest in him and the other men on the scene. Or, more accurately, I liked them "okay" but wasn't much of a fan. I kept wondering when I would hear something with a little more . . . testosterone.

I like this article.

Enter Third Day with their Travis Tritt sound, and Casting Crowns, and the rockers Kutless, and Jars of Clay, and others. Doesn't it seem like the men singing Contemporary Christian music just hit puberty? Didn't the collective pitch drop about an octave? (Okay, a fifth?) I like that, and not just because I'm a bass. It's a whole mindset. James Dobson writes about it with insight in his book Bringing Up Boys--boys and girls are different and that's normal and that's okay. John Eldredge celebrates the differences in Wild at Heart, paraphrasing a Biblical passage about God thusly:

The Boy is a Warrior, Warrior is his name.

This post may be misleading, but it's not really the music I'm concerned about. I'm thinking about a culture, schools, and even churches that may not be addressing the needs of men. Some have written that we have "pared the claws of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah." Now we're doing the same thing to boys made in His image.

Did I mention, I like this article?

P.S. I have always thought being able to sing tenor, first tenor even, would be awesome. It's just hard to imagine that every talented singer out there is a tenor. I'm happy to finally hear a few baritones--otherwise this post is not really about the singing. To put this in American Idol terms (some of my best friends are quite literate in that language):

Would you rather listen to Ace (the most tremulous tenor ever) or Chris Daughtry (future owner of vocal nodes)?

Say what you will about Chris--his image is simple and masculine. No girly Bo Bice hair, no nasal falsetto runs, and a voice as dramatic and fresh for rock as Clay's was for pop. (But I worry about the abuse he heaps on his instrument. He may end up like Satchmo if he spends his career belting it from the neck.)

I like this article.

P.P.S. TIM MINER CUT HIS HAIR and washed off the make-up. The androgenous 1980s are officially over.