Thoughts on Orlando, Christianity, Acceptance

So much has been said – by journalists, the President, talk show hosts, on social media – about the tragic events of Sunday morning at 2am at the Pulse in Orlando that I hardly think my lack of expertise, my limited vision, has much more to add.

I just wish to briefly address this event, and the event, also in Orlando, of only a few hours earlier, for anyone who may care at all.

At 10:24pm Friday night, police responded to reports of shots fired at the Plaza Live Theater in Orlando. Singer and 2014 contestant of “The Voice” Christina Grimmie was shot after her show, while signing autographs, and did not survive the attacks.

Her brother Marcus tackled the shooter, who may have been planning on killing more but subsequently shot himself.

There have been reports that Christina was targeted specifically for her outspoken Christian beliefs.

This past weekend, there were two well-publicized shootings that were instigated by hate for a person’s belief and way of life.

I am a Christian. I know that is not a popular thing to be these days. I consider myself to be a conservative Christian, and I know that that is even less popular.

But regardless of my views on what is right and wrong, I think that every person has certain Constitutional, First Amendment guarantees (these reflecting basic, spiritual, human rights that should be available to everyone) that allows them to marry, vote, speak, think, etc. however they see fit and right.

This supersedes policy. This is the First Amendment. And there is no constitutional privilege anywhere that gives any person another right to infringe upon the life, liberty, and happiness of someone else – namely, killing them.

I have a couple friends, a married couple, who run a nonprofit to benefit the cause of the refugees here in East Idaho where I go to school. They received a message recently decrying what they do, which is fine, people can think what they want.

The sender concluded the message with the expressed hope that when the refugees arrive, that they kill my friends.

In light of all this, I repeat what my wife often says: “Why do people have to be so mean?”

Why do people have to be so mean?

Let Christina Grimmie be Christian. That’s easy for me to say, as I am one as well.

Let the patrons of the gay club Pulse be there, let them live their life. I am not gay, and have certain spiritual beliefs on the whole practice, but LET THEM BE.

As long as my rights are not infringed upon to make allowances for others, I will always support everyone’s right to do as they will.

But NO ONE has a right to bully, intimidate, hurt, or kill in the name of their viewpoint.

Permit me to wax Christian for a moment.

Christ walked, taught, healed, and lived among those who held different beliefs than Him. For those of us who believe in the divinity of Christ, that is extraordinary, and yet makes total sense at the same time.

Despite the view many have on the Christian faith, true Christianity exudes acceptance, forgiveness, love, and kindness. Those were the very traits that made Christ who He was. Anyone who thinks Christianity is anything else is sadly misguided. Any Christian who does otherwise, in that moment ceases to be a follower of Christ.

So you can disagree with me for being a Christian, that is fine. I disagree with most people that I meet on some point or another. But I have grown to love so many people in my blessed life.

I am not one to follow trends so much, but I will join with the masses who #PrayForOrlando and #PrayForHumanity, and all that.

I really do want everyone to live in harmony.

Survivor's Guilt - Vinnie Caruana

The famously personable, charismatic, “too-nice-all-the-time,” Vinnie Caruana, is in all aspects a survivor.

Arriving on the scene fronting a Drive-Thru emo band in the early 2000s was certainly no guarantee of longitudinal success, as hundreds of others in the same boat can attest to. And as good as The Movielife were, Vin took an even greater step in 2005 with the post-hardcore I Am the Avalanche, a superb, sonic, melodic outfit that has proved its merit by the mere fact that they are still touring and making music more than a decade later, which can hardly be said for any original emo bands, much less side projects.

Then, Caruana splintered again in 2013 with his first solo effort, City by the Sea, a landmark among emo-frontmen side projects. Largely
acoustic, coupled with shuffling drums and pump organ, the EP contained all the great attributes of what could be expected from Caruana: scratchy shouts mingled with melodic runs, fractured time signatures, sing-a-long choruses, insightful albeit sometimes clunky lyrics, and augmented chord progressions.

And despite standing firmly on its own two feet, it is also the perfect segue for what would come three years later.

“Survivor’s Guilt” was predated by the typical pre-release routine: a summer tour announced, pre-release on CD, vinyl, and merch/media bundles, social media hype. But with Vinnie Caruana, it feels more like a friend than an artist is releasing this music. This adding to the fact that Vin was engaged to his longtime girlfriend, inspiration for songs such as “Kingwood” off City by the Sea, the same week the album was released…it is evident that much of Caruana’s heart is put into the record.

The album’s leading track, “Burn It Down,” despite being an excellent punk song, is in many ways a “psyche.” Though it bristles and sneers in classic I Am the Avalanche fashion, it does nothing to prepare the listener for what is to come, which is more in the vein of City by the Sea, but yet so much different. “Heavy Weighs the Summer” steers closest to “Burn It Down” in ferocity and punk-heritage, but even this seems to pay more homage to the maturity in sound Caruana has found. And this is where the remainder of the album falls.

The album ranges from fantastic alt-rock flavoring in “We Don’t Have To Die Alone,” the title track, “Gem Street,” and “I Don’t Believe You” to sentimental, acoustic, loving numbers such as “Under My Side of the Bed” and “Roll Back To Me,” to the surprising yet fitting avant-garde closer “Your Religion Is Killing Me.” A true standout is “Angel of the North” in which the listener not only is introduced to Vinnie’s knack for creating a fine love song but also to the different loves he has: Liverpool Football Club, the UK in general, people, and Morrissey and other ‘80’s alt acts. The lyrics, though sweetly clunky, offer the personality that adheres fans so to this artist.

An artist’s solo work should differ distinctively from his main body of work, and on “Survivor’s Guilt,” Caruana is sweepingly successful. Where elsewhere he is bitter, here he is softening. In “The Gravedigger’s Argument” he is burying his ex-wife in the yard, and in “Under My Side of the Bed” he is buying his girlfriend a ring. On Forty Hour Train To Penn he is punchy, punky, and poppy; on Survivor’s Guilt he is pensive, ponderant, and powerful.

Ultimately, the record itself only displays survivor’s guilt in word…the deed displays an unabashed turnout of Caruana’s strengths in musicianship and song craftsmanship, something for which Caruana, public and personal survivor that he is, can be rightfully proud.

Love Stuff - Elle King (Album Review)

Love Stuff – Elle King

All “Did-you-know-that-her-dad-is-Rob-Schneider” references aside, I have a vision of how I imagine, probably unrealistically, of how Elle King grew up. I’m picturing a Texas two-step of shifting matriarchal, empowered, tough-as-nails guardians ranging from Janis Joplin to Dolly Parton a la “The Best Little Whorehouse” to Debbie Harry and I think a little bit of a Bonnie-Raitt-Meghan-Trainor “Heartbreakers” mother-daughter partnership. That’s what I envision, at least. I may be wrong. One thing’s for sure, however, and that is King, who paints herself brusquely as a boozy succubus with a chip on her shoulder, has got both the sass and buried softness for which so many of her contemporaries grope and so frequently fall short. I first heard her lead two-time Grammy-nominated single “Exes and Oh’s” a few months after it came out and it seemed fresh in a way: Ellie Goulding was singing, or something, about loving me like you do, Tove Lo was grossing me out quite frankly, and a string of other “50 Shades of Grey”-inspired songs were swimming around in a petri dish of Taylor Swift self-unawareness and I hated the radio. But finally, a guilty pleasure. It had enough innuendo to score a spot on Billboard, and enough of a bluesy bounce to make me want to listen. At the end of Love Stuff, I’m glad I did listen.

The album takes some predictable turns. “America’s Sweetheart” is poppy and, released not two weeks ago, will probably become huge. At least it should. It delivers on all the prerequisites, and is also pleasing on the ears. “Where The Devil Don’t Go” is a bit of a weak start to the album because of its ill-fated attempt to blend the hoodooism that sticks its pin through the heart of the album and the pop of the times. And its second single, “Under the Influence,” is basically Cousin Vicky to “Habits,” “Addicted to Love,” and enter drug-metaphor-for-love here. Not that it isn’t underserving of its status as a single. It’s alright, which means it’s gonna score. But the life-blood of Love Stuff is everywhere else.

Of course, there’s “Exes and Oh’s.” Great single, great teaser for what the rest of the album offers. There’s “Ain’t Gonna Drown,” a great railroad tune of life and death, “Kocaine Karolina,” perhaps one of my favorite off the album with its banjo-led orchestra of Americana (it is important to note that King herself plays the banjo), “Song of Sorrow,” the only song written exclusively by King and which leaves me hoping she does even more solo arrangements, “I Told You I Was Mean” where she can’t emphasize enough that she is mean, and the electric, heavy, white blues of “Last Darn Night” (sorry, I don’t curse) and “Jackson” are tolerable visages of a bygone era where the electric guitar seared hot in the lead of a song.

One of the criticisms I have heard of the album is its lyrical disdain for all things male. I think it pertinent to remember, however, that King has “a chip in (her) tooth and bad tattoos” and that she “can’t be loved.” (The latter of these, a soulful acoustic number, needs to be on the album. Reissue. Bonus track. I don’t care. But put it on.) We live in a time of so-called “minorities” biting back with “Black Lives Matter” and women empowerment. The fact that black lives do matter and women are powerful is not the point; but perhaps one vital flaw to King’s record is that musically she is rebelling against the conforming popular landscape, yet lyrically, she often falls right in line. That is what makes the last two songs, “Make You Smile” and “See You Again,” both refreshing and slightly frustrating. They totally defy everything you thought you knew about the brazen King up to that point, but still they impress. And yet, she seems to know exactly what she is doing, as I couldn’t dream up a better ending to the raucous-introspective duality of Love Stuff.

With fewer writers, and a slightly adjusted target audience, Love Stuff could be great, not just excellent. Elle King has the goods, and the heritage (my imagined heritage, not her blood progenitors) to do great things within her genre. I just hope that when she reaches that fated crossroads that she sells her soul to the right buyer.

5 surprising ways not to hate the Internet (Native Ad Sample)

5 surprising ways not to hate the Internet

Joe Stay

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This is the digital age. With 1.59 billion Facebook users, over 300,000 hours of YouTube videos filed away, and not to mention [enter additional social media statistics here], the Internet truly has our hearts. It has our attention. It owns our souls. And just like every such relationship, there arises some inevitable and obvious tension.

It’s a love/hate relationship. The Internet is so incredibly useful, but when our time is misappropriated with it, it can be a real vampire. (Twilight reference not intended, but apparently also not edited out.) If you begin to feel drained (they just keep on coming) please know you are not alone. But you don’t have to hate the Internet. Here are five reasons why:

Watch this video about how extensive the Internet was in 1993. Ah, the 90’s. A simpler, arguably happier time (at least economically speaking.) However, clearly, information was not nearly as accessible as it is today. There was a thing called a library catalog, and something else called a checkout limit, and I’m pretty sure a weird, cute little thing called college ruled paper. A peculiar time, indeed. If you ever need a reminder on just how blessed we are in this day and age, remember that you were either being born or watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers at a time that only fifty websites were in existence.

Use Parental Controls. A little bit of unexpected advice, right? Why should I have a series of 0s and 1s dictate what media I should and shouldn’t intake? More on a useful little thing called smartAlec later…as far as this is concerned, this isn’t a plug for censorship for its own sake. Tim Watley, anthropologist at Bob Hoskins University, led a study that indicates that people generally feel better about themselves when they are not barraged with pop-up ads, and are 20% more positive in their daily interactions when they go one hour online without seeing a scantily clad man or woman. I believe firmly in freedom of information. But I also want to be in a good mood all the time, and this seems to be a helpful way.

Use the smartAlec program/app. Something is happening all over America: people are getting fed up. YouTube comment sections are ignored. Chat rooms are emptying. Political apathy is spreading among young adults. Why is this? In the words of Jim Morrison, “People are strange.” And stupid. And those of us who aren’t, at least as vocally, don’t want to go online only to stumble into some dumb debate, or trolls, or any bickering of any sort. This nifty new program/app filters out everything that annoys you personally through some complicated algorithms that make someone somewhere sound like a huge nerd. The rest of us benefit greatly by running into less of these types, and makes our Internet experience all that less stressful.

  

Take a break from looking at a screen every half hour. Could it be that our frustration stems in part from something physiological? Oh, it's a thing. Looking constantly at our screens reduces blinking by 50%, which in turn dries out our eyes, which causes a buildup of mucus in our sinuses, which, you guessed it, causes headaches. Curse that alluring glow and bright colors! If you take a break now and again, perhaps every half hour or so, for a couple of minutes of looking at something organic, like a newspaper, clock, dust, whatever it is that people look at that's not on a screen, your headaches will reduce, and you will love being on the Internet more.

Be grateful. So this one is basically all-encompassing. Be grateful that we have such an amazing invention at our fingertips. You can thank Al Gore, I mean, a whole team of experienced innovators, for that. We also have great options like parental controls and smartAlec to keep you from stressing out over all the sludge that gets cycled through your browser. And as a personal affidavit, I would submit that observing life around you will make you appreciate virtual life a little more.

We ain't got time to hate. The Internet is an incredibly useful tool, mode of communication, and source of entertainment. What's not to love? Follow these steps, and it will have your heart again.