I can’t stop looking at this painting by local artist Nik Harron called “A Field Remembers The Rain”. I contacted Nik and he’s going to allow me to use one of his paintings for a future album cover. Enjoy!

You can see more of Nik’s paintings here: http://nikharron.com/category/paintings/

I saw this great street art in downtown Seattle. You’re thinking, “It’s just bottle caps screwed onto plywood…” right?

Every once in a while I find an album that I absolutely love. I always intend to write a review of this music but I rarely get to it. Sometimes though I come across a review that captures my own thoughts about the album really well.

I came across such a review of R.E.M.’s latest tonight that I want to share with you written by a writer I’ve been reading for a long time, Brian Q. Newcomb.

Here are some highlights from the review:

For bands with staying-power, no matter how far afield they run from what their fans expect, the challenge is to strike that precarious balance between giving music listeners the “new thing” they desire, without straying so far off that they cannot follow.

R.E.M.’s earliest experiments and bolder creative efforts over the years have earned them a fan base willing to go along for the journey, to see what new horizons the band’s muse will suggest. Still, they seem to want to bring it all together here, on this their last contractual album with their long time label, Warner Bros. Records

***

“Collapse into Now” is both a summary of R.E.M.’s winning templates, and an expressive effort of the band living in the present.

…this latest installment from R.E.M. is certainly the best all-around effort from the band in the last 15 years, although the hard core rock fans will no doubt still hold “Accelerate” in higher regard. To these ears, “Collapse into Now” provides a keen synthesis of R.E.M.’s diverse sounds into a complete and concrete whole.

Read the full review here.

From local artist Nik Harron:

You’d think everyone would have heard of a popular musical artist who just came off a 3-year, 168 show tour that grossed over $96 million, wouldn’t you?

Via Lefsetz:

Everybody does not know who Leonard Cohen is. He never even had a hit!

But Leonard Cohen just completed a three year tour.

There were 168 shows. And a total gross of 96+ million dollars.

There were 55 shows in 2010 alone. And the average attendance was 8,150. And the average ticket price was $104.30. The only acts in the Top 50 with a higher average ticket price were superstars, Bon Jovi, Paul McCartney, the Eagles, Roger Waters, Whitney Houston and Cher. Leonard Cohen is number thirty on the chart, higher than Eric Clapton, Carrie Underwood, Elton John and the Jonas Brothers.

Everybody knows that Leonard Cohen is an artist.

Everybody knows that Leonard Cohen is about meaning first.

Sure, everybody knows he’s not going to live forever, that this might be their last chance to see him, but they EMBRACED IT!

Everybody knows what’s got value, what touches their hearts, what lasts. Ignore the hypemeisters, because everybody knows.

The truth.

The moral of the story? Forfeit the quick buck now of meaningless art for the rewards of artistic longevity.

I’ve reviewed Luke’s music before (read) because I’ve been a fan for a long time. Have a listen to his latest and then lay down the 12 bucks and buy it. You won’t regret it. For fans of Andrew Peterson, Steve Bell, and Bruce Cockburn… among others.

Press play and enjoy…

Site: http://lukebrindley.com/
Twitter: @lukebrindley

Here are the lyrics to my favorite song so far – click on track 9 (Broken Land) above:

Broken Land
i’m standing outside the tunnel that goes under the river
been looking through the city for the real life giver
i musta been to every courthouse – every clinic in this county
i turn away from temptation – the devil still found me

what haven’t we tried what dark corners unknown
to keep from feeling empty, broken hearted and alone?
i’d be lying if i said i have answers for you
but I’ve heard rumors of redemption, maybe they’re true

honey take my hand through this broken land

the soul stompers drum like thunder
in the independence day parade
sequins flashing, cymbals crashing
just beyond the barricade

now the veterans of every american war
down thru the last century
they should have a parade for the lovers that made it
together into their 70′s

honey take my hand through this broken land
won’t you take my hand through this broken land?

i was raised in the pews of a dozen small churches
tongues of fire conjured when the choir would sing
beyond the din of the deceivers and the orphaned believers
i heard the lord knockin so i let him in

now that refuge of hope has been torn down for years
and my spirit still fights with my flesh
but if you cornered me in my clearest moment
asked me if i’d do it again, i’d say yes

honey take my hand through this broken land

This incredible video is the creation of some 250,000 contributors from over 170 countries. Hit the pause button any time during the video and you can see what one of those 250,000 people was thinking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBmky9Tx2UM

If you’d like to know more about how this was made, take a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwNVlNt9iDk

My favorite music industry writer, Bob Lefsetz, in a recent post:

Never forget that music led.  Napster was about music.  Napster was the best thing that ever happened to music.  It allowed all that unreleased stuff to come out of the vault, it paved the way for MP3 ubiquity and now streaming.  To fight Napster with lawsuits and CDs is like fighting Facebook with the Girl Scouts.  Never overlook the network effect.  That’s what’s gonna blow up new music.

***

We’ve become so lowest common denominator that we’ve missed the point.  And too many old school people believe the way to break an act is written in stone.  Work with usual suspect producers, get it on the radio and TV and then hype it to high heaven in any other media that will have you.  If this were working so well, the music business wouldn’t be in trouble. 

Don’t focus on piracy, that’s missing the point.  Piracy killed the old model.  But piracy also demonstrates demand.  More people want more music than ever before. More people own more music than ever before.  More people are listening to more music than ever before.  And to focus on success as sales of recorded music or concert tickets is completely missing the point.  Once you get all those eyeballs there are a million ways to monetize.

Read the rest here. If you are a songwriter or in a band you need to be reading Bob Lefsetz every day.

When music shows the qualities of sturdy songwriting and timeless melodies, we call it Beatlesque… after those most famous of musical Brits, The Beatles.

When a government introduces legislation that impedes our free rights as citizens, we call it Orwellian… after the much referenced novel “1984″ written by George Orwell.

When we’re presented a picture that portrays scenes of idyllic American life, we call it Rockwellian… after the popular American painter, Norman Rockwell.

So when I came across this feature at NPR a few days ago that showed Rockwell’s paintings beside the original photographs on which they were based, I couldn’t help but notice a common feature of each set. Can you see it? (Click on the photos to see a larger version)

What’s interesting to me in each one is that Rockwell’s paintings are grittier than the original photos. He was able to paint more emotion into the scenes than the actors were able to portray in the photo shoot.

In the first one, the ball player looks more forlorn and dejected. In the second, the coffee shop server goes from a cheery-cheeked college boy to a grizzled, cigarette-smoking, middle-aged man. In the third, the man points more wildly, and the woman is more obstinate. There is a better conveyance of emotion in the paintings.

In each of the paintings the scene looks real, as if it were a moment captured in time. In each photograph the scene looks contrived.

I was formulating a few paragraphs of thought about Taylor Swift’s new album “Speak Now” but Bob Lefsetz says exactly what I was going to say in excerpts from this post:

Is Taylor Swift Debbie Gibson or Joni Mitchell?

“Speak Now” is Taylor Swift’s effort at self-justification.  She wrote all the songs, it’s totally her…and we wish it wasn’t.  We wish she still co-wrote, that she used the usual suspect producers, then it would be more professional, less cringeworthy, more radio-friendly and acceptable to those who are not diehard fans.

What you notice first is the terrible sound.  Loud and edgy, which does a disservice to Taylor’s voice…

Then you notice that this is not a country album.  Then again, country isn’t even country anymore and Taylor Swift inhabits that rarefied world where you’re genre-proof, where your fans accept you for who you are, you don’t have to worry about playing the game…or do you?

Give Taylor credit.  Listening to “Speak Now” the radio singles don’t jump out.  “Speak Now” is statement, from the mind of a twenty year old, who’s had way too much success way too fast and missed out on growing up but learned so many lessons she wish she hadn’t…

…This is what Taylor Swift specializes in.  The honest communication of the teenage landscape.  When she tries to be an adult, she gets confused.

In conclusion he says:

“Speak Now” does not augur well for longevity.  It’s both too cutesy and too dramatic, just like an adolescent girl. The question is whether Taylor Swift can grow.

If Taylor can be as honest about being a woman as she was about being a girl, there’s hope.  But she’s got to work with a producer who flatters her voice, she has to decide whether she’s removed or involved, whether she’s giving us a peek at the life of a star or a regular person.

First things first: Rage Against the Machine is one of my all-time favorite bands. Lyrically there’s much to disagree with but music is about more than lyrics and when it comes to energy, passion, groove, hook, and delivery, Rage is a tough act to beat.

Secondly, the dudes in this video pull the song off nicely, even the guy playing Morello’s parts.

But playing a lyrically-Christianized version of “Bulls on Parade” as an intro to a sermon series is one of those things that makes you go hmmmmmmm… Have a look:

Here’s what offends me about it:

1. Christianizing what is already good art is lame.
It’s no different than modifying a Mountain Dew logo and making it say “Meant to Die for You” or taking a Subway logo and making it say “HisWay”.

2. Christianizing a song by a band you obviously like dishonors that band.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Zach and the boys in Rage would NOT like this version of their song. It is a perversion of their intent and it’s opposed to their extreme leftist political views.

3. Christianizing a song affirms the stereotype
Doing this instead of using an original or “already-Christian” song feeds the impression that Christians can’t make their own good art.

4. Christianizing a song is not “redeeming” it
Please don’t play the “redeeming it for God’s glory” card (a.k.a. the “some hymns used bar tunes” card). In the words of Hank Hill: “You’re not making Christianity better – you’re making rock and roll worse!”

5. Christianizing a song ignores the Law of Residual Effect
Real-life example: back in my mid-teens I was exploring the music of the 70′s. I thought the band Boston was pretty cool. Because I didn’t have a history of drug use or partying lyrics like “Smokin’, Smokin’, We’re cookin’ tonight, just keep on tokin’ / Smokin’, Smokin’, I feel alright, mamma I’m not jokin’, yeah,” rolled onto and off of my mind like water off the proverbial duck’s back.

This unfortunately was not the case for a number of people in whose presence I unwisely played this newfound favorite band’s music. When they heard the songs, memories of partying, drug use, and other worldliness flooded into their minds – thoughts like: “Man, that was fun. I wonder where I can get some weed…” Through this I learned a lesson about being a stumbling block.

***

Music is powerful. Songs plant themselves in our consciousness and attach themselves to memories both good and bad. Sometimes showing care for your bother or sister in Christ means not doing things you’re at liberty to do around them.

Yes, I listen to Rage Against the Machine. No, I won’t be playing “Bulls on Parade” as part of my next worship set.

If you are looking to have a large mural painted or a portrait sketched, I must recommend the work of artist Pete Siemens.

Below are some samples of his work. You can see more of his work at his site found here.

Contact Pete at psiemensart@yahoo.com or call (519) 691-6814.

This is one of my favorites – a wall painting that is also a fully-functioning clock (click to see larger version)

Engagement Portrait

Child Portrait

Amazing Full-Wall Hand-Painted Murals (click on pictures to see larger size):

Contact Pete at psiemensart@yahoo.com or call (519) 691-6814

I will quote here (at length) from Doug Wilson’s recent piece called “Humbling the Arts”, but you really should read the entire thing for yourself here.

Money quotes:

We have come to the point of high circularity where our culture defines art as anything done by an artist, and an artist as one who has the right and authority to produce art. The detritus of this approach can be viewed at a tax-funded gallery near you.
***
Once on a trip I was struck by a particularly beautiful bit of graphic design, and it was doing nothing but decorating a restaurant at an airport. Musing on this, it occurred to me that while contemporary painting is in a wretched state, the aesthetic value of contemporary graphic design is light years ahead of the advertising of a century ago. Compare Vermeer with Jackson Pollock and you get half the point. The other half can be seen in a comparison of an ad for shoes a century ago and an ad for shoes today. Taking one thing with another, mutatis mutandis, current advertisements are aesthetically far superior to anything being done back when serious painting was still worth displaying on the wall. I mentioned this to a friend who pointed out an obvious connection—

ads today are the work of a “guild.” Look at any striking ad and you are looking at the work of a team of twenty people. No tortured genius signs it. It was done for money, plain and simple. No misunderstood soul thought up the ad with the back of his hand pressed against his fevered brow. Intelligibility is prized since the company actually may want to sell their product while intelligence is also prized because the ad has to stand out. Creativity can and does flourish under such conditions. In a similar way, the best creative work being done in television is in the world of commercials.

***
We should want to learn how to serve others outside the guild by means of painting, poetry, music, short story writing, and all the rest of it. Of course there are obvious dangers in this—establishing a gallery in order for people to watch us try to be aesthetically humble has some obvious snares. But nevertheless, we really do not want to be monks of high art. Rather, we want to be puritans of all artisanship, high, middle and low.
***
Attempts to thrust ourselves forward will result in humiliation. He [Jesus] taught us that the first will be last, and the last first. The one who exalts himself will be humbled and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

Despite the clarity of this doctrine, Christians persist in wanting to become rich, recognized, feted, honored, awarded, and flattered. They imagine that the teaching of Christ would of course have to be obeyed by them in an invisible spiritual sense, deep in the recesses of their hearts.

They would have to make sure the success did not go to their heads. Like the self-deceived, would-be philanthropist who daydreams about winning the lottery and imagines how much good he could do with the tithe, so Christians have wanted into the big time—so that they could then make a mark for Jesus. Along this line, Christians want to be actors and screenwriters and novelists and producers and poets and directors and painters, and then what a grand testimony we shall all have! But it never seems to occur to anyone that perhaps Jesus meant what He said in a more earthy sense. No one wants to be that nameless servant of Christ who did some of the spectacular wood carving on the north side of a 12th century cathedral—the anonymous fellow with the same social status as the 12th century butcher. As the blues song has it, everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die.
***
This [being "puritans of artisanship"] involves three basic tenets.

First, the incarnation and humiliation of Jesus Christ is the arch-typical pattern for all who would be artisans—death is always followed by resurrection, and all resurrections must be preceded by death. Modern art is fruitless precisely because it refuses to die to self—it is a form of art that is all about self, barbaric yawp and all.

Secondly, an artisan always works with his materials, not against them, and since all materials are created by God and declare His glory, it is most necessary for all the works of our hands also to declare His glory.

And third, the world is filled with glories that none of us has yet seen.

***

MK – Wilson is a splendid writer whom I am pleased to have discovered by way of Collision, a documentary film about his conversation tour  with Christopher Hitchens.

I will be reviewing Shane Hipps book Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith soon. Here’s an idea of what the book is about.

Tim Challies:

The Peasant Princess Here is a micro-site for Mark Driscoll’s new sermon series on Song of Solomon. Love it or hate it, you can’t argue with the skill and creativity of Mars Hill’s creative department.

I agree.  Mark Driscoll talking about sex… I’m sure the series will be interesting to say the least.

I like reading “classic” books, and by that I mean books like The Catcher in the Rye and more recent books like Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz. One reason for this is that many people have read them and so there is a great amount cultural currency about them. Great works of art stay relevant, if only for the reason that people keep reading them, viewing them, and listening to them and – thanks to Hollywood – re-creating them.

I like to make my own judgments on these works rather than rely on the proclamations of either the cultural yes-men or the anti-cultural naysayers. In some cases I am pleasantly surprised – in the case of Blue Like Jazz I was astonished; in other cases I think I must be missing something.

The Catcher in the Rye is one of the latter. What am I missing? Why has this book been idolized and often banned? Why the iconic status? I have intentionally avoided reading reviews and other’s thoughts about the book, so what follows are my unadulterated impressions.

A few things that I liked about the book:

First, it is a good read. The dialog is good, the characters are alive, and the supporting cast is colorful.

Second, I do understand how iconoclastic it must have been in the 1950’s when it was first published, although now it seems a rather tame and meandering tale of youthful delinquency.

Third, it was interesting to notice while reading how Donald Miller cops plenty of style from it for Blue Like Jazz. Miller uses “if you want to know the truth” throughout Blue Like Jazz just like Holden does. That’s fine with me – it’s an appropriate homage, a wink and a knowing smile from Miller to his readers who make the connection.

Some notable passages:

“I can’t always pray when I want to. In the first place, I’m sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don’t care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible. Take the Disciples, for instance. They annoy the h— out of me, if you want to know the truth. They were alright after Jesus was dead and all, but while he was alive, they were about as much use to him as a hole in the head. All they did was keep letting him down. I like almost anybody in the Bible better than the Disciples.
If you want to know the truth, the guy I like best in the Bible, next to Jesus, was that lunatic and all, that lived in the tombs and kept cutting himself with stones. I like him ten times as much as the Disciples, that poor b—–d.”

This is no surprise, since Holden is telling his story from within the asylum in which he now lives. But you don’t know this until the end of the book, so maybe you just see it as an attempt to shock the reader. Holden pities the lunatic, probably without seeing the parallel to his own life in which his younger sister seems to pity him in the same way.

Holden is absolutely obsessed with phoniness. He goes on about it at every opportunity. For example:

“In the first place, my parents are different religions, and all the children in our family are atheists. If you want to know the truth, I can’t even stand ministers. The ones they’ve had at every school I’ve gone to, they all have these Holy Joe voices when they start giving their sermons. G–, I hate that. I don’t see why the h— they can’t talk in their natural voice. They sound so phony when they talk.”

Authenticity is paramount in Holden’s hierarchy of social virtues. Authenticity is freedom, and freedom is liberty to do what one wants.

I’m finding this book more likable in the reviewing of it than I did in the reading. Because of the “surprise ending”, you want to read it again, now with your lens adjusted to account for the setting in which the story is being told. In this way it is like the movie “The Usual Suspects” – the only movie my wife and I have ever watched, then rewound (rewound, yes, back in the day) and immediately watched again. The surprise ending here is not as surprising, but I do think I’ll read this again sometime and the experience with be richer.

What follows is the dialog between Holden and his younger sister from the title of the book is taken:

“You know what I’d like to be?” I said. “You know what I’d like to be? I mean if I had my g—-m choice?”

“What? Stop swearing.”

“You know that song ‘If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye’? I’d like-“

“It’s ‘If a body meet a body coming through the rye’!” old Phoebe said. “It’s a poem. By Robert Burns.”

“I know it’s a poem by Robert Burns.”

She was right though. It is “If a body meet a body coming through the rye.” I didn’t know it then, though.

“I thought it was ‘If a body catch a body,’” I said. “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing a game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy.”

So the title of the book is actually taken not from the Robert Burns poem but from Holden’s faulty memorization of it. (Admit it, the title would not be nearly as compelling if was “Meeter in the Rye”.)

In this telling passage I see Holden’s longing for protection, his desire for someone to watch over him. At one point he takes refuge at the home of a former teacher whom he has always admired. He feels safe until he wakes to find this former teacher whom he trusts, Mr. Antolini, sitting on the floor next to couch on which he is sleeping, petting and patting Holden’s head. When Holden demands to know what he’s doing, Mr. Antolini replies “Nothing! I’m simply sitting here, admiring-”

Holden reveals that he “knows more d–n perverts, at schools and all… and they’re always being perverty when I’m around,” and “When something perverty like that happens, I start sweating like a b——. That kind of stuff’s happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid. I can’t stand it.”

Does anyone have a psychoanalytical take on those statements? I draw from that that he’s been a frequent victim of abuse. The next morning he considers returning to Mr. Antolini’s house, wondering if he’s misjudged the whole incident. “I mean I wondered if just maybe I was wrong about thinking he was making a flitty pass at me. I wondered if maybe he just liked to pat guys on the head when they’re asleep. I mean, how can you tell about that stuff for sure? You can’t.”This incident occurs near the end of the story and seems to put him over the edge with anxiety and worry, so I imagine it is shortly after this that he enters the asylum.

At the end of the story Holden regrets having told so many people his stories, since it makes him miss all the characters in them. “Don’t ever tell anybody anything,” he says, “If you do, you start missing everybody.”

I have to admit it – I’m seeing a lot more depth now than when I was reading the book. I was tempted to put it down, write a short, negative review, and forget about it. But right now, I’m more interested in picking it up and reading the whole story again.

And that is the way great art becomes great and memorable – the way it becomes a classic.

_____

Read more about The Catcher in the Rye at Wikipedia
_____

If you’re not familiar with 20th century part-surrealist, part math-geek artist M. C. Escher, you owe it to yourself to at least read his Wikipedia entry or go to his official site here.  You may be familiar with his most famous drawing called “Drawing Hands” (seen at left).

Many other of his drawing are worth looking at but I’d like to draw your attention to one rather amazing Lego construction of one of his drawings of ‘impossible constructions’.

I will show you the original drawing and the Lego construction below. If you want to see it in more detail and read about how it was constructed, vist creator Andrew Lipson’s site here.