Showing posts with label ben domenech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ben domenech. Show all posts

Friday, February 21, 2020

There Are No Good Conservative Songwriters

 

Some dolt named Jason Isbell, who is apparently the "King of Americana Music" (I honestly have no idea who the idiot is) recently got into a Twitter tussle with someone who tweeted that they didn't like his progressive politics, and responded, “If it ever gets to be too much for you, there are a lot of great songwriters out there who agree with you politically. Oh wait, no there aren’t.”

I abhor making fun of the mentally challenged, but I will make an exception in this case. Let's begin with the absurd moniker of "King of Americana". Who crowned him? In my limited exposure to whatever the hell Americana is, I would exalt Dwight Yoakam (who is apparently no longer considered "country") to that title. And Dwight's politics are, yes, progressive, but he's no imbecile. There is no chance in hell Dwight would make a statement like that, because he knows better. Dwight knows that political bent has no bearing on songwriting prowess. In fact, political leanings have no bearing on creativity, period. I don't know (and don't care to know) what kind of songs this Isbell guy writes, but if you're in the country milieu, aren't you writing about heartbreak and about life's ups and downs? I didn't know that was solely the purview of liberals. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not, based on my reading of online political site comments; unless the songs are all about how much I hate Trump and the world is going to hell...because of Trump.

Sigh.

Tedious.

It's sad that some people's existences are so tiny that all they have to latch onto is hate. No, not sad -- pathetic.

I'm not going to enumerate all the superb conservative country songwriters, because Trigger compiled a comprehensive list here. My point in writing this post is that people need to get over themselves. I sometimes lurk on a (fiction) writer's forum and it's just as hateful as Jason Isbell. The prevailing opinion there (among writers who've had just as much success as me; meaning "none") is that conservatives are hayseeds who can barely read, much less write. The place oozes with condescension.

No wonder I pine for the days when music was just "music". Now we are forced to take sides. That's not what music is about. Music should be joyous. Music should be a respite; a little jewel we tuck inside our pockets. I don't want it to be ruined. I knew that Stephen Stills was a Hollywood Hills lefty, but I didn't care because I liked his music. I know what John Lennon was. Lennon is a god to me. 



Let's all calm down and stop hoisting our battle shields. 




 

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Get Over It, People

 

I don't get political here, but come on, people! I truly don't understand all the hate -- all the angst that drives people insane. Why would anyone want to do that to themselves?

I saw a clip of some moron driving his van into a tent one political party had erected to register voters, because he "needed to make a statement", and I thought, what the hell? Is your life really that sad? Excuse me, but you are a loser.

I've been voting since 1976. Sometimes my candidate won; sometimes they didn't. Life went on. I managed to live a productive existence. I raised a family, worked a job, paid my bills. Dabbled in artistic endeavors. Sure, I wasn't crazy about some of the losers who were elected, but they weren't attacking me personally.

Maybe it's a twenty-first century phenomenon, that humans are so in tune to cable news that they abandon all sensibility. I refuse to live that life. (And please, just stop, cable news. If you truly care about people, you might want to catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and ask if this is a person you'd really want to know. Seriously, are ratings going to be the sum total of your life? Pathetic.)

Life can be bad, but it can also be grand. I would be lost without my husband. I love my grandsons. I love watching my sons blossom into dads and celebrating every milestone, just as I did with each of them. I cherish my friends; love laughing with them. My pets, Josie and Bob, are quirky and can be maddening, but our bed would be empty without them. I fold music inside my heart and never forget how fortunate I've been to experience it. My mind is constantly spinning with new, sometimes outlandish creative, bound to fail, schemes and plans.

I'm not about to steer my car into a crowd of innocent people.

I am truly flummoxed by all the hate.

How about, just live? There is magic in the world -- just open your eyes to it.