Union, dearest Union

Click on the photo for a closer look...it's truly a sad thing. But God is good and we'll move on with Him!

Secret and Whisper....a new band that I instantly liked.

I have to say you might be missing something if you fail to check out this great new band on Tooth and Nail Records. Falling somewhere in between Thursday, Thrice and Sunny Day Real Estate, Secret and Whisper really do a great job of melding styles together to create one epic debut. Soaring vocals, double kick drums and electronic elements hold this very good record together. Give them a listen on their Myspace page. iTunes is even running a $7.99 special, so it's even cheaper to own a piece of the action.

http://www.myspace.com/secretandwhisper

Song of the Moment - Communication by The Cardigans

The Cardigans - Long Gone Before Daylight 2004

I was introduced to this great album by my good buddy Lewis. The opening track, "Communication," is this really sincere song. I like it alot right now...probably one of the better lead-off tracks on an album that I've heard in a long, long time. Really sets the pace for the rest of the record. I've uploaded for your listening pleasure. Click the link below to download. Let me know what you think.

"Communication" by The Cardigans

Google Maps...gone wrong!

Found this on digg...enjoy!

I mark my return with this interesting email

So today I was reading Christianity Today's Music section, which I check out weekly for new music reviews. I don't listen to much Christian music these days, but I do like to keep up with what's coming out in an attempt to find out what's good or what I might deem good. On this regular Tuesday, I headed over to the site to check out what was new this week. There I found they had (finally) reviewed the new record by The Glorious Unseen. I thought the record was pretty good. It's moody, contemplative and just plain original in this day of manufactured worship music. Well apparently Christianity Today's Russ Breimeier disagreed. You can read his review here. I decided to send in a comment that I won't try to describe. I'll post it here for you to read:

"Christianity Today is one of those places I come first to check out the reviews of new Christian music. I've been reading for several years and have usually enjoyed the perspective of the writers. I've become increasingly disenchanted with the writers though, namely Russ. I know Russ covers alot of different bands and genres, but I'm seeing alot of negativity when it comes to music that he doesn't care for or connects to. My thought would be that someone who listens to indie music should be reviewing indie music like I would be the wrong person to review black gospel music. At least to me, Russ reviewing all sorts of styles negatively impacts the perspective of the reviews: case in point, the new Glorious Unseen record. Russ seems to favor mainstream Christian music and obviously not alternative underground stuff.

Granted this is all just my perspective. I'll continue to read the site.

Thanks

Zach Delph
Nashville, TN"

So no less than an hour later, I got quite a response. I was shocked at its tone. Take a quick moment to read this. It's quite a read.

"Zach, it'd probably help if you provided multiple examples with such a heavy criticism (and granted, you gave me one, the very one I knew you'd give based on your comments and the timing of your e-mail).

From our end, we receive the same ratio of praise and criticism in e-mails to us about our work. I've painstakingly researched the ratings we give to albums in a year, and it's been virtually the same ratio of positive to negative for 5 years straight. And if anything, we've become less negative in our write-ups. I'm the first to make sure our writing is irenic, never a personal attack on an artist. My editor thankfully does the same thing for my own writing. The last thing we aim for here is snarky, unChristian writing that blasts an artist personally (unlike a lot of the blogs and websites out there).

So I'm not sure where this "you're growing more negative" observation comes from. We're about the same as we've always been, according the ratings ... and if anything, my editors say we've grown less negative. (Incidentally, one site, www.patrolmag.org attempted to say that we're too positive, on the same level of positivism as CCM magazine. Thus the dilemna we find ourselves in.) I will say that when someone writes in to say we're negative, 9 out of 10 times it's because they're just ticked that we happen to have a different opinion on their favorite artists/albums. Such is the nature of album reviews--I can't possibly write in a way that everyone will agree with. I can only be honest about what I know.

As for The Glorious Unseen, you make it sound like I'm completely ignorant to indie music and worship. That of course is the excuse everyone gives when they disagree with my review--conveniently dismissing my opinion by citing inexperience or lack of understanding. Of course, I've been reviewing all Christian releases for nearly ten years, so I have a pretty good handle on what's been done before and how albums stack up to similar sounding bands. And I'm a worship leader for both contemporary and alternative worship bands, so I'd like to think I'm pretty experienced there as well. I don't say that with pride or ego, your honor--just stating the facts.

In the case of Glorious Unseen, I wanted to like it more--I truly did. I'd heard the buzz, read recommendations from readers, and I love me a good alternative worship album. But I've heard better. So if you want to say I just don't understand it, well, then I guess we can agree in that much. I don't understand what the hubbub is when I've heard so many similar projects in the last 5 years, among prominent Christian releases as well as indie projects submitted to us. Now I do wish there was more of it ... but better than this. Still, I certainly didn't strongly dislike the album; it was simply middling to me, and not on par with better projects in the same style. Hence the "fairly good" rating of 2.5 stars.

Incidentally, my colleague, the editor for teen magazine Ignite Your Faith, was eager to hear it too, since he had heard it was a worship album for people that don't usually like worship music, or "what Underoath would sound like if they did a worship album." He returned it to me promptly and said they would not be covering it. I don't mean to say that as definitive proof--I'm sure you can point to 30 people who love the album. For all I know, you're a member of Ben Crist's church.

All to say, sorry you feel the way you do. We'll try and do better, as we always do, but there's not much to be done as far as tone of reviews. This is the one we've established for the last several years, and it's the one that the majority of readers feel is the best out there. We'll adjust when the majority of those readers feel we're headed down the wrong path, not before.

And we thank you for continuing to read.

Blessings,

Russ"

So, as you can see, Russ seems to be quite offended by my criticism. I won't make any further comments about what he stated. I'm not gonna go low on him and start criticizing him. Just wouldn't be prudent. Anyways, hope that was a good read for you.

Priceless

A Little Gem back from 2004, originally uploaded by zeejaydee.

I was digging around in some old photos from the past and found this little gem...somehow its perfect. BTW, we're standing in line at the Magic Kingdom waiting for Space Mountain. Eric and I's faces are great...that relationship sure hasn't changed at all over the years.

That was a great trip...I'll remember it forever...unless my ole hard drive in the head gets erased.

Movie Review: Disturbia

This is definitely one of those movies that from appearances, I generally don't like. When I found out that it was a update of the Hitchcock classic Rear Window, that intrigued me a bit. With Rear Window being one of my favorites, I decided that it might be O.K. to check out with Eric and Lauren Murrell. I can't say I was disappointed.

Of course with any update of a classic, they always adjust some of the storyline to fit the current culture and era.With Shia LaBeauf playing Kale, a troubled teenager sentenced to house arrest after assaulting his Spanish teacher in class. This sets up Kale to a situation similar to Jimmy Stewart in the original, who played a photographer sidelined by an injury. After a while, Kale goes stir crazy and begins to take notice of the world around him, through the use of a pair of binoculars. After noticing and then befriending his new attractive neighbor Amanda, the stage is set for this classic story to play out. Reports of a missing girl on the news catches Kale's ear. He's especially interested when he notices that his mysteriously quiet neighbor, Mr. Turner, drives a car matching the news' description, down to the dent in the fender. Could he be the killer?

I won't belabor the point or give away the ending. Disturbia does take a big jump off the Rear Window storyline, solidifying the fact that this was "loosely based" on the original. It's suspenseful, funny, and and for the most part, pretty well done. I think I'd see it again, at least to catch some of the things I missed in the first viewing.

Sanjaya's demise...finally!

It's finally over...now can we get on to the real point of the show?

Hot Pockets

Hot Pockets
Originally uploaded by zeejaydee.

I just thought I'd share this little gem that I got signed at the Jim Gaffigan show back in March. Can't tell you how much I love what he signed on it.

Music That Hits the Mark: Denison Witmer

This is the first post in a on-going series that I want to start on music that I feel means something. First up is Philadelphia native, Denison Witmer. I won't elaborate on who he is; you can read about that on his site. What I will say is that this quiet singer-songwriter seems to strike a chord deep in me. With his simple melodies and early 70's production style, Witmer sings songs of love and life that I've always attached myself to. Almost like he's sing as me. As much as I enjoy Denison, I've sometimes found it hard to listen because the songs resonate so deeply inside of me. Not many artists do that. If you're interested in checking him out, I highly recommend his 2001 album, Of Joy and Sorrow. It's a mellow album with great lyrics. It's definitely one of those albums I'll put on for a long drive. If you decide to give him a listen, please let me know what you think.

Music Now Festival 2007

I'm back from my wonderful weekend full of music. It was definitely a great lesson in modern classical music. That wasn't really something I was necessarily expecting, but nonetheless, it was amazing.


Thursday night, Matt and I headed to the Memorial Hall in Cincinnati. It's a very small place, holding somewhere around 500. It's very ornate...and very patriotic. In a classic way. Who every knew that manliness was next to integrity and equity? There were all sorts of words over the front of the stage that were humorously alluded to all weekend.

For Thursday night, we got the most varied presentation of musical acts that I believe I've ever seen in one setting. To start the evening, we saw the U.S. debut of French flamenco guitarist Pedro Soler. Now I'm certainly not an expert in flamenco guitar, and really not a fan, but gosh, this was absolutely amazing. I don't think I've ever seen anyone play like that. At least not in person. Anyways, that was certainly a treat.

Next up was a marathon of sorts. We saw a classical guitar performance by the curator of the fest, Bryce Dessner. Next, David Cossin, a percussionist who's worked with everyone and anyone played us a piece play with water. It's too hard to explain here, but trust me, you've never seen anything like it.

The festival commissioned a few things for us to hear this weekend. One of which was four selections arranged for string quartet from Sufjan Stevens' album Enjoy Your Rabbit. I have this album, but have never listened to it much, as it is a bit abstract. The arrangements were very nice and spot on. We'd see more of this quartet, as they were featured pretty much all weekend.

The rest of the night was pretty good, featuring a few other selections by the quartet and a short performance by Clogs, who apparently have a large following among the classical music fans. I'd never heard of them before this. But I guess that doesn't mean much...right?

For Friday night, there were performances slated by the Icelandic quartet Amiina and the quirky chantuesse Shara Worden, of My Brightest Diamond. I've seen both acts before, so I was very excited about this. Amiina has long collaborated with Sigur Ros and has just released a fabulous full length that I was lucky enough to pick up before they sold out of the few copies they had on hand. The girls of Amiina perform with such beauty and grace that it's hard to explain. I'll just link you to a video.



After that wonderful performance, Shara Worden performed with a string quartet. She's got a very unique voice that certainly takes some getting used to. Once you do, there's alot of beauty to it. I've come to enjoy it quite a bit. She has a new remix album that's pretty darn good. Here's a performance from sometime last year.



For Saturday night, we experienced probably the best and possibly worst of the festival. To say worst might be too much, but it was still a bit odd. Up first was a couple that had been brought over from the Czech Republic for their first visit to the U.S. Irena and Vojtech Havel have a very experimental, yet classical thing going on. For their performance, they used two instruments I've never seen before. It was like a guitar, slightly bigger, and fretted half way down. For one hour, they played variations of the same notes over and over. While one was playing, the other was making all sorts of crazy noises with their instrument. It's just hard to describe. When one moved over to the piano, we thought it might get better. It really didn't. The performance was unique yet very inaccessible. I think it was the most over-hyped part of the festival. I just didn't get it.

After that bizarre performance, we were treated to the highlight of the festival. Sufjan Stevens' performed for around 90 minutes or so. We heard tracks from Seven Swans, which I believe he doesn't perform much. He also played songs from his popular state albums Michigan and Illnois. The arrangements were unique, featuring the string quartet, guitar, banjo, celeste, pump organ, French horn, and bassoon. Overall, it was a very nice performance and certainly the highlight of the festival.

This past weekend was definitely an experience. If it's this good next year, I'll head back. The festival was a great way to celebrate my 25th birthday. I even saw snow on it...weird. My dad tells me that it snowed the day I was born. I don't remember.

I'm not even gonna offer an opinion on this movie...this says it all.

edit: To clarify a few questions from friends, I did indeed see this movie. Luckily it was a free screening. Only thing I was out was the 90 minutes of time that I wasted on it.

First Attempt....American Idol

After several discussions over the past months with a few friends, I have decided to open a blog that will primarily center around my opinions on culture, art, film, music, TV...whatever. Most of my friends know that I am pretty opinionated and that I enjoy a good dialog, so I want to be able to create a place for that to occur. Feel free to join in on the discussion. I'd love to see your participation.

For this inaugural post, I will attempt to tackle my strange obsession with the mega show American Idol. I've had several friends ask me as of late as to why I am such a fan of a show that is generally regarded as cheesy and way too mainstream for my music tastes. Yes, I will acknowledge that there is some sort of discrepancy between my pseudo-self imposed music snob lifestyle and my love for American Idol. I don't quite get it, but I do love this show. Whether it be for the sheer fact of watching people go out there and make total fools of themselves or seeing people who have worked so hard to achieve a goal finally make it, the show is definitely "must see TV" for me.

I generally disregarded the show for the first few years that it was on. This was mainly due to the general cheese factor that the show brought. Everyone who was on the show was as cookie cutter as that could get. I guess what finally got me was the long haired rocker from Birmingham, Bo Bice. He went on there and was unapologetic about the style that he brought to the show. Even though he turned out a somewhat lackluster debut album, I still liked what he was doing.

Then, in 2006, we saw another Birmingham native come to the show. Some may laugh at me for this statement, but Taylor Hicks struck as musical chord in me that hadn't been struck since I discovered U2 in the 1990's. It wasn't just him per se, it was what he brought to the table. The style, the soul, the performance all got me. My following of Hicks only opened up other musical doors that I had left closed for so long. I mean, I started listening to things I thought I'd never let in: Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway, Michael McDonald...the list goes on. Getting to see my favorite on the show was pretty cool. Maybe it was some sort of projection of my life into his, but it stuck with me. He was a simple guy from the south that was getting to do what he loved.

This year with Idol, its been pretty pathetic for the most part. There's a serious lack of talent on the show this year. When there is talent, its seasoned and sometimes comes off as too good. That kinda bores me. As usual, I grab on to a favorite and stick with it. First it was Sean Michel, but he was quick booted off in Hollywood week, never to be heard from again. But during the tryouts, we came to know the funny man Chris Sligh. His Seal cover was pretty good, but I knew we'd hear more from him. Granted, he probably never did enough to establish himself on the show, but after 6 performances on the show, he got the boot this past week. It definitely made me sad. Maybe it was the projection thing again. He was even closer to my age. I'd even go as far to say that his publicized weight loss has been a big inspiration to me as I venture into that. I figured if he could do it, I most certainly could too. And so far, its working.

Well, I guess I'll wrap this up. I'd love to hear some comments. Tell me why you like the show, or maybe why you hate its existence. Whatever.

Till next time...I'll try to be very regular with this. Keep me to it.