country connections

I just researched and posted bios, photos and links to my old friends Slim and Zella Mae Cox and Joy Ann Silvey on my blog Hard Country. Check it out.

Tags: Joy Ann Silvey, Slim and Zella Mae Cox, Country music

new acquisitions

Two of my favorite hobbies are reading and music. Here is list of new acquisitions in the last few weeks.

Books:
Billy Joe Shaver: Honky Tonk Hero, University of Texas Press, 2005. (Devoured in one day.)
Waiting for the Word: Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Speaking About God by Fritz Delange, Eerdmans, 2000. (Nibbling my way through. Found for $5 on Abebooks! Bought because of Richard Gillingham's review.)
Karl Barth Letters 1961-1968, translated by G. Bromily (Found at a local used bookstore for $5.50. A delight!)

On the music side:
Rosanne Cash "Black Cadillac"
Johnny Cash At San Quentin (The Legacy Edition) This box set has the complete uncut concert on two CDs and a BBC documentary (51 minutes) on another DVD. This DVD is well worth it all. I've watched it twice now and will have to watch it many more with other friends. Saw it with my parents and grandparents the other night and we were all amazed that it took so long for it to be released. If you have the album but haven't seen the documentary, crucial audio parts come alive. So cool.
Drive-By Truckers "Decoration Day" and "A Blessing and A Curse" (Last two albums.)

It generally takes me much more time to devour music than books. Often I'm listening and reading at the same time. But good music has to slip into my subconscious and then my blood stream before I make a judgment on it.

Me on Television

Well, if you've found this blog because you saw me on NLEC's Telethons: welcome! I hope my singing and playing were not too painful an experience for you. Then again, whatever it takes to get you here! Because I care about fairness, here are the artist's songs that I did and the albums where you can find these songs. I'm sure you'll find their versions much more appealing.

Johnny Cash: Personal File and American V: A Hundred Highways

Iris Dement: Lifeline

Billy Joe Shaver: Victory

I also taped a show with my dad to be aired after Christmas where we discussed the medium of Television, Media Ecology, the movie "Good Night and Good Luck" and I'm pretty sure I mentioned Jacque Ellul's book The Humiliation of the Word. Dad says he thinks most of his audience are as computer illiterate as he is, but on the slim chance that you find this blog as a result of this program: Welcome!

Friday night at the Free Store

I played and sang at the Free Store again last night. There were like twice the usual number of friends. A nice family brought food so the atmosphere was a bit different. I was really nervous at first and totally flopped on the first song "Unchained." Oh well. They were all busy eating and talking. So I just smiled, apologized for butchering Johnny Cash, and moved into the next song. It was fun. After singing "Palms of Victory," the spirit struck dad and he launched into a small sermon on not giving up. Way cool. Then I did Lucinda Williams' song "I Lost It." I asked first if anyone had heard of Lucinda Williams. No takers so I mentioned that that was good because then they won't know what they're missing. My friends here were so nice to me. No food was thrown. I actually got small rounds of applause.

After a while I sat down to talk to Frank Zubek. I handed my guitar to Eddie and he picked up my Mel Bay songbook of old hymns and did three or four songs. I think he's a much better singer. Frank and I talked about what doing a book would look like and he asked if I could just help him do a brochure to go with his product. Of course. He handed me a letter he'd written to the reporter in response to her article and asked if I'd correct it. So I did it this morning. He's such a wit, I'll tell you. If he doesn't mind I'd like to reprint some of it here in another post.

illegally sheltering the homeless in the Buckle of the Bible Belt

This week has been quite exciting. My dad and I have been meeting with homeless men and women at the New Life Free Store on Commercial Street in Springfield Missouri. Far from being an official church service or Bible study, we sit on old chairs or the carpet and just talk about what’s been going on in our lives. We ask to hear their stories about just making it day to day on the streets. The openness and eagerness is so refreshing. Since the spring I’ve been repeatedly listening to about twenty songs by Johnny Cash, many old folk songs like “Palms of Victory” and “Kneeling Drunkards Plea,” some new like “The Beast in Me” and “Unchained.” What I’ve been hearing is the universal human experience of failure and desperation, of confession and forgiveness, of hope and healing and a future. Before heading down to Springfield I gathered the lyrics to many of these songs. I didn’t really know what for. I dug them out and sang them with my new friends at this meeting. The effect on me personally to share these songs was staggering. I’ve shared here before that I’ve been involved in twelve step recovery for a few years now. These songs speak to so much of what I’ve learned from my group. During the last meeting I met a man, Eddie, who had played lead guitar in a band sometime ago. Eddie was honest that he’d had a few drinks before the meeting. He wanted to get sober, we talked about it several times. Eddie sprung right into “I Saw the Light” and he knew more of the lyrics than I did.

I get so much out of these kind of friendships. Its hard to believe that a place like this, a shelter from the extreme cold, could be illegal. Its even harder to believe that its illegal in a small city that has so many Bible colleges, churches, and church headquarters such as the Assemblies of God and the Baptist Bible Fellowship. But its true. The only way we meet in this warm place and then let these folks sleep overnight is in direct violation of a city ordinance that says that emergency shelters may not be within a certain number of feet from one another. The city argues that it doesn’t need any more homeless shelters and that this ordinance helps keep the homeless population under control. So in essence, if someone is slightly intoxicated or without ID they’re just SOL. They can’t be on the street but they can’t be “illegally” housed either. In addition, police have been harassing the homeless, trying to catch them jay walking, threatening arrest just for walking around. Many folks have stories of their camps in the woods being discovered and their belonging destroyed. The other night staff at the Free Store were visited three times by policemen and finally threatened with arrest for taking in homeless people. So, my dad (Rev. Larry Rice) had had enough. The next day (yesterday) he called a press conference to admit that they were indeed sheltering the homeless (it had been an open secret) and that they would continue it. Further, after the Press Conference he and the homeless marched down to the police station and he met with the highest ranking officer on duty to turn himself in. “Don’t arrest the staff,” he said, “arrest me.”

Frank Lockwood of Bible Belt Blogger covers the story in his post: "Pastor: I'll help the homeless 'til police arrest me." He wasn’t arrested at the station, they were very kind and helpful. An officer with internal affairs said to forward any more reports of harassment to him personally. This was far better than expected. A reporter from the Springfield NewsLeader was there taking notes. But of course, this isn’t the end. The zoning law remains the same. In truth this battle has been on in different ways for the last five years. New Life was recently given the Social Security Building in Springfield by the federal government. It just so happens to be located within 2000 feet of another emergency shelter. Here’s the Press Release as issued yesterday. I’ll try to keep you posted on the situation as it develops.

PRESS CONFERENCE
TODAY, DECEMBER 6TH AT 2PM
209 W. COMMERCIAL
SPRINGFIELD, MO

Larry Rice is willing to be arrested by Springfield police for sheltering the Springfield homeless during the extreme cold temperatures. At the press conference he will explain how New Life Evangelistic Center Free Store and Church has been providing sanctuary to the homeless who would otherwise sleep outside.

Yesterday, the NLEC staff on location were visited three times by Springfield Police Officer Steve Miller, who told them they could not operate a shelter due to zoning ordinances (but at night it is the Springfield Police who call NLEC to give shelter to the homeless, including a 70 year old veteran). On his third visit to NLEC, Officer Miller threatened to arrest any of the NLEC staff who were providing shelter.

Rev. Rice will explain how and where he has been hiding the Springfield homeless during the severe cold weather. Because of Springfield’s repressive law requiring services for the homeless to be 2000 feet away from each other, Rev. Rice’s activities to help them at 209 W. Commercial have been declared illegal.

Following the Press Conference, Larry Rice will march with the homeless to the Police Station to turn himself in. If he is arrested, he promises that once he is released, he will be right back at 209 W. Commercial, sheltering the homeless in obedience to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25. If he is not arrested, he will be sleeping at the shelter with the homeless tonight.

Also during the Press Conference, Rev. Rice will be calling on the clergy of Springfield to join him in taking a stand this Christmas and open their churches to help the homeless as Jesus taught. In addition, an update will be given on the use of the Social Security Building, which has been given to NLEC to help homeless veterans in 2007.

disclaimer: this is still a family site

Ok, let me just add a disclaimer here that the Flogging Molly DVD should definitely be rated R for language. If you're a youth pastor please don't show it to your group of sixteen year olds upon my recommendation. I've been watching the whole thing on my laptop with headphones.

more on the Flogging Molly film

"When my father died, which was probably the most traumatic thing, we'd one window in the flat. He was sitting at the table there on a Sunday. The sun was shining through the window and it hit him on the face. And he was yellow. I thought it was really funny. I thought it was great. I said "Hey dad, you're yellow!" Alright? And that was the last time I ever seen him. My mother went outside. She went down the street and she called an ambulance. The ambulance came and picked him up and that was the last time I'd ever seen him. He died. Cancer. He was jaundiced at the time. The next time I'd seen him was in his coffin. So. . . I thought it was my fault that he died. If I hadn't have said anything he would still be alive, I thought. So for years I used to lie all the f***ing time. I was terrified to tell the truth. 'Cuz if I told the truth something bad would happen."

Dave King, songwriter, Flogging Molly. "Whiskey On A Sunday" A Jim Dziura Film.

This quote is an example of the kind of transparency, truth-telling, and lust for life that typifies this band film. Its truly rare that a touring band could love each other so much, be tight as family, truly respect each other and believe in their craft so much. That's what I get out of this film. Its truly inspiring. Dave King writes songs worth singing. His stories are alive and real. They're about real people and real human need. I can't believe how familial this film gets without getting into sentimental drivel. Here's a hard living, hard drinking rock band that clearly hasn't fallen prey to the excesses of that lifestyle.

Tags: Flogging Molly film, "Whiskey on Sunday", quote

Flogging Molly and the death of the Electric Car

Flogging Molly restored my faith in Irish music. I'd heard so much crappy traditional Irish music over a short period of time that I swore off altogether and went straight Bluegrass. Then my friend Jason passed me a Flogging Molly cd. I watched the first half of the Whisky on a Sunday DVD last night. Its one of the more fun "life on the road" biopics I've seen.

Then yesterday I got to see half of "Who Killed the Electric Car?" Why can't I seem to watch a movie straight through lately? Family. Oh well, that's the beauty of DVD players. You must see "Who Killed the Electric Car?" I found it on Youtube, then I went to the website, and now that its out on DVD my dad bought it. He immediately loaned it out so I can't see the whole thing until next week. Anyway, this documentary is the thrilling love story between EV1 owners (leasees) and the car owner, General Motors. Its the story of California politics and the loss of a clean air mandate. Its the story of a corporate product being so good for the public that the owner gets scared and rips it from their hands. Fascinating stuff.

But of course the larger story is about an American coal and oil based infrastructure fighting to keep its archaic claws on the hapless populace.
(How's that for a movie tag line?)

Tags: Flogging Molly, Irish music, "Who Killed the Electric Car?", film, EV1 leasees, GM, coal, oil, infrastructure

"Personal File" lyrics

I carefully typed in the lyrics to some songs I can't stop listening to on my wordpress blog--- here.

Tags: Johnny Cash, "Personal File", Lyrics

protest and pop music

I caught Get Up! Stand Up! The Story of Pop and Protest on PBS last night. Really fascinating stuff. It was a history of protest and music in American history. I only wish the exploration in more recent years had been more indepth. It weighed heavy on the 60's but then by the '90s the protest side of the music seemed far less effectual. The point was made that the larger issues came out as the money rolled in (for LiveAid and We Are the World) but only served to raise simple awareness. It ends with Bono and the One project and the question "What can rock stars really accomplish?" That is perhaps this generations' question as it concerns music and political awareness. The show could have ventured another half hour into that topic.

Tags: Bono, One, Get Up! Stand Up!, Documentary, Protest, Folk, Pop, Rock, politics

Me & Mylon

I know I've shared in the past some of my deep aversion for Prosperity theology, but let me relate the other side of this. Back in 1988 I was living near a little town in mid Missouri. I had just been really turned on to Jesus, with a serious salvation experience and some radical in-filling experiences with the Holy Spirit. My dad told me I nursed my Bible at the time like it was a teddy bear. He caught me running through the tall grass in front of our house, dancing in the Spirit, high on Jesus. When I came inside he asked me what I'd been doing. He said it was an embarrassment to him as he was sure the neighbors were watching. I'm sure he doesn't remember any of this now. Anyway. . . .

With some friends I began a music video TV show on NLEC's Christian TV station. One of the coolest music videos was from this band called Mylon and Broken Heart. Beginning with an interest in the videos I started buying Mylon albums every time they came out. Now you have to understand that when I listen to music I get nutso about it. That started here as a teenager. I memorized every note, every riff of the Mylon albums. (As I did with a ton of CCM music at the time. Keith Green had 24 hour nonstop play in my head. I got all his music on cassette for "whatever I could afford"--- which was nothing. I wore every tape out to where they wouldn't play anymore. My girlfriend's dad made the remark that I could have easily started a local chapter for a KG cult!)

But Mylon was more than music to me. I subscribed to his letters. I was very lonely at 16 and a real struggler. So I wrote to Mylon Lefevre. And the wild thing was that he answered me personally. At first I couldn't believe it was really him. I thought it was a stamp there instead of his signature. So I made each letter personal and asked specific questions. And he wrote back with specific answers. When Mylon and Broken Heart came to Columbia and Jefferson City, I made it to the concerts. Now Mylon was a real preacher in his concerts and he gave altar calls. So it was after a concert there in Jeff City that I went forward to recommit my life to Jesus again. I prayed with Mylon personally and just poured out my soul and asked all kinds of questions about what to do with my life and how to know if I was really following God's will---questions nobody could possibly know given the circumstances. But in a wonderfully personable way Mylon very patiently prayed for me.

A few years later Mylon got out of Rock n Roll. You can read about it on his website. He did a mellow solo album which I don't remember buying. I just read on a tribute site that while struggling with his heart condition he met up with Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. For over fifteen years now he's been hooked up with the Copeland family and has been teaching from Kenneth Hagin. That really pains me. So there you have a little connection between me and prosperity theology. I actually feel caught in tandem between these polar worlds of religious liberal and conservativism. Its an epidemic with Bible teachers. It's never enough to relate the words of Jesus. The audience must be drawn into a Kingdom here and now. Among Liberation theologians Jesus is the "yes" to a new civilization here and now. Among Prosperity teachers he is the "yes" to healing and wealth here and now. While Liberation theologians are content to "imagine" the new realities and act toward a future, prosperity teachers tell the poor that God hates their poverty and wants them wealthy now! Either way the identification with felt need is there. Trouble comes with the realization that God is much more than economics, medicine, and politics. Spirituality that focuses on these is less concerned with God's person than with what God gives. The question that should be looming in the subconscious is "What do we have when we get what we want?" Is there no more need for God? I feel suspicious of any lifestyle that needs a religio-philosophy to justify its' existence. As though its not enough to live, we need the heavens to resound "Yes, thatta boy!"

On the plus side, I do feel that Liberation theology highlights a political reading of the Bible that is intended. I don't feel it needs to be quite so forced, often times the textual criticism involved begins with a bias against history. With prosperity teachers I find it particularly inconvenient that there is a lot of evangelistic witness going on. Yes, many prosperity teachers are less prosperity than they are soul-winners, I must admit. And while I personally have spent so much time in (what felt like) manipulative spiritual meetings, I have to be honest and say that as far as I can tell the gospel is preached. It ticks me off to say that. I get angry at God that he uses people who turn around and malign the very gospel they preach. But its a human problem! I can't think of a preacher who doesn't fall under the weight of the gospel he/she preaches!

Jesus' command to "love one another as I have loved you" is alone enough to humble anyone who takes him seriously.

Tags: Mylon Lefevre, TV, Music, Prosperity Theology, Liberation Theology, Kenneth Copeland, conversion, discipleship

Why Johnny Cash is so important to me. . .

I must be the only guy I know with hundreds of songs spanning the life of just one artist. A guy who has been dead now for years. I have a collection not of albums but of label sets. Granted I'm not the greatest Johnny Cash fan, but I've read the books by the real fans. I have four books by or on Cash. When I saw the latest American recording (number five) I stood amazed. I said to myself that I had enough. I thought I'd heard enough of this old voice to last me my life. Of course I listen to those songs again and again. American V has remade me into a wondrous believer in song crafting once again. But American V wasn't enough. I'd been eying this album Personal File released on Columbia/Legacy. I wanted it but wasn't sure I really needed more Cash on voice and guitar. Upon listening through both albums back to back I have to say that these songs instill in me a fresh love for storytelling and memory. Johnny Cash is more than a voice, more than a legendary performer, more than a personality. He is a bard. He is a collector and popularizer of old tales, magical memories, melancholy feelings, and faith hard as granite. When I listen to John I find a connection with the Spirit of the ages. He had a lust for life and story-song until his dying day. That impossible vigor mesmerizes me. I hope to be infected with a little bit of that spirit. My mind was widened by it years ago but I hope to be infected with the story-telling way he embodied. I want to tell stories with my life energy. That is my prayer.

Tags: Johnny Cash, bard, musicology

New folk as Americana?

I tuned into an Itunes radio station this morning. It promised "Americana" music. What I got was what I consider crappy New Folk. I can't explain the boundaries between quality old country, mountain music, bluegrass, and tra la la crappy new folk. Here are some turn-offs:
-Showboating as filler in a song with one verse with four riffs played repeatedly for six minutes. At least with punk when it's a ninety second song it's a ninety second song!
-Songs written in tribute to Starbucks customers or especially with them in mind.
-Songs that repeat I...E...I...E...I...E...I...E...I...E...I...E...I until I can't remember how the song started have no idea where it's going and don't care so long as I can reach the off button before it finally ends.
I could publish my list of musicians that fall into this camp but then I'd finally alienate most all my friends and be found out for the musical snob I am.

I have a photo book by Henry Horenstein called Honky Tonk: Portraits of Country Music 1972-1981. Though there are some new folkers in it I have to say it captures what's good about Americana to me. The ultimate irony is that while I love heart-break songs and tragic liquor soaked ditties I'm constantly applying them to something else, demythologizing them, looking for the hard lessons and morality plays. I feel none of the compulsion for drink that the songs imply. As a musician I'd be a terrible booze seller. That's the real heart of Americana I fear---another round, but I prefer to keep that truth at arms reach.

Tags: Americana, New Folk, Differences, Honky Tonk, music

Cracklin Moth/Bill Mallonee in Chicago

Upon the advice of a friend whom I respect I have listened to Guns N' Roses "Appetite for Destruction" album and looked up bios on the band so that I could officially know what I'm talking about when I say I DON'T CARE FOR THIS MUSIC. I imagine it could get worse but I'd prefer better thank you very much.

Tags: music, guns n' roses

Would you like cream cheese with that?
McCabe's "we can string anything" oddity.

Tags: Music, McCabes, strings