Art is what puts me in touch with the divine. Real art is spiritual,
everything else is just mechandise. I worship at the alter of live music,
meditate in art galleries and observe rituals in theaters. These places are
my church. Just last night I saw a jazz vocalist, a Salsa band, two rockin'
alternative counrty bands, two one-act plays and had a lengthy conversation
with a poet friend of mine, a guy who conducted my wedding ceremony nine
years ago. Yea, Saturday night services! Amen.
I honestly don't know if this "religion" is philosophically justifiable or
if its just a matter of rationalization. In either case, I can't help it. I
just love it too much. I HAVE to worship in this way or I feel empty, lonely
and depressed. Traditional churches, the kind with steeples and preachers,
only make the feelings of emptiness more accute. I've encountered a few
clergymen who seemed like genuinely spiritual people, but the vast majority,
in my experience, seemed to have something terribly, terribly wrong with
them. All these preachers and priests put together are worth less than one
good artist. All the many hundreds of church services I've attended are
worth less than that single conversation I had last night. I'd crawl a mile
over broken glass for a good conversation. God bless the poets. Hallelujah!
The problem with the arts in America is that they've all been turned into
commodites. As a result, the arts have been reduced to mere business. The
whole thing is driven by profit rather than quality. Its not a matter of
what sells, but a matter of what sells in huge numbers. Its become a matter
of packaging, marketing, advertising and air-brushed masturbatory fantasies
rather than talent, originality, creativity and vision. Its become a matter
of pandering to the lowest common denominator rather than rewarding
excellence. In addition to the distortions of the marketplace, there is the
lack of public support. Did you know that the city of Paris spends more on
fostering the arts than does the entire federal government of the U.S.? Did
you know that America spends more on its military marching bands than it
does on PBS, NPR, The National Endowment of the Arts and the National
Endowment of the Humanities all combined? No wonder the rest of the world
thinks we're a bunch of rich hicks. The meek shall inherit the Earth. Thank
you, Jesus! And speaking of hicks, let me get more specific....
For the past few years I've been very excited by a genre of music that you
might not be familiar with. Its called alternative country, which is a bit
misleading. I suppose something like "postmodern Americana" would be a more
accurately descriptive label, but a rose is a rose and by any name would
smell just as sweet. With just a few exceptions, the chances of hearing an
alt.country tune on the radio are slim to none. The chances of finding an
altcountry section at the record store are nearly zero. Its the kind of
thing that exists under corporate radar, as punk once was. The artists
working in this genre are mostly impoverished and maginalized, which is
actually one of the things I like about it. It allows for a greater range of
freedom and innovation. There is a dyanmic quality that can't be duplicated
by corporate stars. It has a edgey, ironic quality that can't be pinned down
and isn't easily commodified. There are lots of variations within the genre,
but generally speaking one could say that it has a simple sound based on
traditional American forms like, country, folk, bluegrass, but the
sensibility is decidedly Punk. But not just in the negative, destructive
sense. Its smarter than that. In fact, I always meet nice people when I go
to these shows and I have yet to meet someone who DOESN'T have a
post-graduate degree. Its gotten to the point where I can tell how good the
band will be just by looking at the faces in the crowd. The MUSICIANS
themselves are often people who are art school graduates, preformance
artists, painters, writers, poets and leftist political activists. This
stuff blows me away. Even more specifically...
There is a band out of Austin Texas called THE GOURDS. There motto is "music
for the unwashed and well read", which sort of indicates the sensibility of
this whole genre. Its populist, but literate. They cover David Bowie, Townes
VanZandt and Snoop Dog all on the same album. Its killer. LUCINDA WILLIAMS
is one of the most famous and has actually won a grammy. She is the daughter
of an English professor and former poet laureate of the United States. There
is JON LANGFORD, a Welsh art school grad who runs a his own label out of
Chicago called Bloodshot records. He's a painter, a poet, an activits, he
has a punk band, a rock band, a country band, and in his solo work
specializes in interpreting traditional American forms. He's done a couple
tribute albums to Johnny Cash, for example. There are many more I could
describe in equally glowing terms, like THE HANDSOME FAMILY, IRIS DeMENT,
WHISKEYTOWN and others. But let me dish up some lyrics because this is where
the vision really comes through and is the aspect that I find most
impressive. Nearly all these bands take on pretty heavy themes and express
some relatively profound sentiments. These guys don't sing about trivial
stuff. Its usually pretty dark and twisted, always ironic. It often
straddles the line between tribute and parody. Its often hilarious. Here's a
song from the Gourds. It has a very, very country sound. Its shamelessly
twangy. Upon hearing this sound, one might expect the lyrics to be about
pickup trucks, getting drunk, or patriotic sentiments. Instead, its a song
about the necessity of experience over dogma in matters spiritual. Its
called "Hallelujah Shine".
If you want to talk about it
you gotta go down there brother
If you want to talk about it
You gotta get in the water
If you want yer hallelujah shine
you gotta go under
You gotta go under Jordan's mighty waters
This hallelujah shine is mighty dark and old
If you want to meet the Jesus
You gotta go down ther brother
If you wanna meet Muhammad
You gotta get in the water
If you want to know what Jesus said
You gotta go down there brother
If you want to meet the Buddha
and kill him on the road to glory
If you want yer hallelujah shine
you gotta go under
You gotta go under Jordan's mighty water
This hallelujah shine is mighty dark and old
Lucinda Williams wrote a nice tune along the same lines. Its sounds like
hick music but expresses her inability to find any kind of spiritual
fulfillment in the old ways. Its called "Get Right With God".
i would risk the serpent's bite
i would dance around with seven
i would kiss the diamondback
if i knew it would get me to heaven
cause i want to get right with God
yes, you know you got to get right with God
i would burn soles of my feet
burn the plams of both my hands
if i could learn and be complete
if i could walk righteously again
i would sleep on a bed of nails
til my back was torn and bleeding
in the deep darkness of hell
the Damascus of my meeting
i asked God about his plan
to save us all from Satan's slaughter
if I give up one of my lambs
will you take me as your daughter?
cause i want to get right with God
Yes, you know you got to get right with God
And of course this same kind of theme is often treated with humor and
irreverance. The Handsome Family serves as a good example of this. They are
a married couple. He's a former punk from Texas and she is a preformance
artist from new york. Generally she writes the words and he wrties the music
and they preform together. Alot of their stuff sounds very punk, but this
one is a shamelessly twangy country song. He affects a quasi-literate
colloquial accent in the execution. Its called "Water Into Wine".
I heard tell of the miracles my blessed savior done.
He took a great big ball of fire and forged the blazin' sun
but out of all those miracles divine
by far my favorite was turning water into wine
Water into wine
my lord done somthin' fine
he saved my soul
and gave me peace of mind
There's no cause for worry
everything is fine
Ever since he came
and turned my water into wine
They had a big ol party lord
they killed the fatted calf
but when it came to alcohol
they only had enough for half
Jesus waved his arms and said
go check them urns again
I think you'll find that they're all full
with wine up to the brim
If you're headed down boy
and you can't afford a drink
I hope this little parable's
gonna stop and make you think
fear not brother, take his hand
he'll bring you peace of mind
he'll crash your evil party
and change your water into wine
By now you might be wondering what any of this has to do with the MOQ. Hmmm.
Maybe I should just trust you to see it without my having to spell it out.
Yea, I think that's the way to go. Thanks for your time. DMB
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