<nettime> Oh for the love of Christ! Enlighten me!!

[Doug <larue@glaze.net>]

Capitol-City.Com / MusicTexas Artist Network

Oh for the love of Christ! Enlighten me!!
An open letter to all artists...


It's 6am here in Austin , Tx.  I've been up all night yet again working on the
Architecture of a companies communication with the rest of the universe when I
took a break to get some food and watch the tube.  I watched a movie that I
purchased a copy of because of the quality of acting and the great action and
uniqueness of the plot. "A Long Kiss Goodnight"

After the movie was over I refused to watch another cheesy Cinemax movie that
uses curse words for their attention gathering ability as if that where an
appropriate substitute for intelligent scene dialogue.  It's awful, I wince in
pain every time I hear an actor take the lords name in vain as if everyone goes
around saying GD to each other all the time every day.  If your living in a
place where that is the case then MOVE!

Just like in the movie Men In Black, do you remember the very first line of
this movie?  It's "GD Bugs!!!", this movie was seen by very nearly every kid in
America because of it's extensive special effects which, by the way is exactly
why everyone went to see the movie.  Do you think even one person would have
changed their minds about how much they liked the movie if no one cussed at all
during the movie? Na!@!

If cursing is needed for realism in a dramatic situation depicting the
lifestyle of that nature than cool!  That is an appropriate use within general
artistic terminology's, great.

Well back to the channel flipper I go looking again for something different, I
stopped monetarily on ch. 11 the christian channel.  A woman preacher from
Florida was on and speaking about keeping our temples as pure as possible by
not letting all the garbage on TV and Films into our minds. She said you got to
draw the line when so much garbage is being shoveled at you in the name of arts
& entertainment, and how you should flat just stop going to the movies with
cursing and such. She was very clear in making the point that  even the
shallowest of evil can make its presence apparent in those who experience it.

Now this trail of thought has somehow promoted a series of events that I find
very interesting and thus prompted this letter to be written and shared.  I
cant seem to get to far in my daily life without running into this dilemma
straight on and if you have been reading these letters on the network lately
you know this to be true.

Well back to the channel flipper I go again which nearly always brings me to
the Austin Music Channel.  Chris Crock The AMN Morning Show host is ranting
like a walk on at ACAC about the southern Baptist church of Georgia ( i
believe) issuing the condemnation of certain rock bands that he feels have
nothing negative of evil to say in there lyrics.  Man this guy needs to wake up
before he tries to do his show!  He ranted and raved about how nothing these
bands say can be considered evil.  Bands like Eve-6, Better than Ezra, and
Collective Soul among others.  Sputtering about in a caffinated rage against
the machine of organized religion, Chris went so far as to say FU to the
Christians on the air, all in the name of rock and roll.  He did not say the
words out, he literally said FU, FCC regulations and all.  And he doesn't see
what influence the music has on people.  Did he say FU to them to glorify
himself, God or better yet his parents, or does that action do more to glorify
evil, or satan??  The common response to this would be so what, everybody says
it...hehe

That preacher was doing her best to tell everyone that even the smallest of non
holy things like a curse word has its affect on you and helps to open the door
of acceptance for more and bigger non holy things to come to you and affect who
you are.  It affects your ability to be the honorable enlightened person that
we all can be.  With or without Christianity or any other specific religion,
people can and do seek enlightened lives by the accumulation and summation of
everything they allow as part of their lives, so it really does not
specifically pertain to religion, it is a matter of how noble and honorable and
enlightened you wish to be.  Unfortunately, the human race has become more and
more like sheep being herded through life down the paths that are chosen for
them, not by them.

Chris Crock finished his rant by saying FU to the awful rock hating Christians
and spouting variations of lyrics from some of the bands songs and saying how
can that be considered satanic or this or that or or or well... anyway right
after this he put on a video "Me Vida Loca", the video started with several
girls pelvic thrusting into the camera and the first lines of the song told of
how  a girl was into voodoo witchcraft and how she was leading him (the singer)
down an evil path with the little things she does!  What can I say!  I would
say "far out Chris, you have a better sense of humor than I thought", that is
if I believed he was even aware it occurred much less the irony!!! Was that a
random occurrence, or did that happen for a reason?  Maybe you could go so far
as to say that God is all around us and is very aware of our thoughts and
actions and if your "listening" objectively  with Love as the basis or core of
your intelligence, the truth will be expressed to you.

Just for the record, I like Rock & Roll!  I also listen to the lyrics, that
comes from liking other types of music too, like Blues and Jazz.  There is
plenty of great Rock & Roll, there is also a lot of crap too.  Personally I
like Collective Soul, they have very cool messages in there music and it is
usually very positive in nature....guilt by association.

This all leads right back to the challenge I have posted on
www.capitol-city.com

We as Humans are so capable of so much more than we settle for, when was the
last time you remember being truly captivated by the shear intelligence of a
piece of directed entertainment?  For me it was at Zachary Scott Theater!

Doug LaRue,
Editor/Web Publisher

-- P.S. Peace & Love my friends! Define creativity, then pursue it!
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