It seems with my posting lately that I should rename this the “Bono Blog” - yet another post about him. Anyway, even though I only saw a part of last night’s Grammys, I was excited to see U2 perform “One” with Mary J. Blige. In case you do not recall, U2 and Blige performed the same song for the Katrina Hurricane Relief Effort. Watching U2 and Blige perform “One” that night moved me to tears - this is what music is all about. U2 preaches a message of coming together, a message that became that much stronger when Blige joined in. Here are some of the lyrics from the song:

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we’re not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One…life

One

In the Katrina aftermath where there were charges of racism, Blige and U2 cut through the accusations and held the standard high for us - how we should all aspire to end racism and live together in harmony. I know, a bit sappy this early in the morning, but sometimes I think change can only happen if we have a dialogue that’s uplifting rather than divisive - the blogosphere itself sometimes stirs up more divisiveness than harmony in our dialogue.

I know I’m a big fan of U2, but does last night’s performance (or the Hurricane relief performance) affect you the same way? Below is a clip of last night’s Grammy performance.

[Runtime: 04:06 | Please make sure you have the latest version of Macromedia Flash installed on your computer to watch this video. To download it, please visit: http://www.macromedia.com ]

Tags: [U2, Bono, One, Blige, Mary J. Blige, Katrina, Hurricane, Grammys, Grammy Awards, racism, unity, music, video]

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Original Post 02.01.06 @ 12:02 pm

I wish I had the time and money to spare. Bono is speaking this Friday at the Nation’s Capital Distinguished Speakers Series, which is being held in Washington DC. As I’ve stated on this site before, I am a big fan of Bono because he exemplifies WWJD. As you may or may not be aware, he’s an activist affiliated with the One Campaign, to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. He is someone I look up to and wish I could hear his words of challenge and inspiration.

UPDATE

The day before this event, Bono spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast. A transcript of his remarks can be found here. However, what he said needs to be watched - it’s powerful. Mark my words, Bono will eventually win the Nobel Peace Prize, and rightfully so.

[ Runtime: 21:40 | Please make sure you have the latest version of Macromedia Flash installed on your computer to watch this video. To download it, please visit: http://www.macromedia.com ]

Tags: [U2, Bono, National Prayer Breakfast, One, One.org, activism, WWJD, AIDS, poverty]

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There’s really nothing to say about someone who cannot be taken seriously.

Tags: [Kanye West, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Rolling Stone, rap music]

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I recently commented on Kanye West’s antics, and W.C. Varones pointed out another gem when West took part in the Live 8 festivities in Philadelphia. Here’s what he said to MTV:

“[t]he concept of AIDS alone—what my parents always told me, who are activists—is that it was a man-made disease in the first place that was placed in Africa just like how crack was placed in the black community to break up the Black Panther Party.”

I do not deny that racism exists in America. However, I have a hard time accepting some of the recent claims. What concerns me most is that it seems that these claims only fuel the fire of racism - they are destructive (not constructive) criticisms. I do know of friends who believe that the reaction to Katrina was racist, but I just cannot get to the heart of this belief.

In contrast to Kanye West, U2 is such a class act. Despite criticism from more ignorants like Mos Def, U2 performed a phenomenal rendition of “One” with none other than Mary J. Blige for the Hurricane Relief Benefit: Shelter From The Storm. So, instead of introducing divisive dialogue, U2 preaches a message of coming together, a message that became that much stronger when Blige joined in. Here’s some of the lyrics from the song:

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we’re not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One…life

One

Here’s the kicker. Despite Kanye West’s criticism of white leadership and Mos Def’s criticism of Bono for “turning his back” on the Hurricane Katrina tragedy, Kanye West will be opening for U2 on the December leg of their North American tour!

Tags: [Kanye West, U2, Mos Def, Mary J Blige, Katrina, Hurricane Katrina, racism]

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I’m not very familiar with Kanye West, except that I know he has won a few grammy awards and he has created a foundation to battle school dropout rates.

Any respect I had for the man has since fizzled after hearing his remarks on last Saturday night’s “A Concert for Hurricane Relief” seen on NBC. West’s remarks appeared to be racist, in my opinion. Here’s a few ignorant notables spoken by West:

“George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

America is set up “to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible.”

“I hate the way they portray us [African Americans] in the media. If you see a black family, it says they’re looting. See a white family, it says they’re looking for food.”

“They’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us [African-Americans].”

For me, the highlight of the concert was hearing Tim McGraw sing “More Power to Ya,” a Christian song written and performed by Petra on their 1982 album with the same name. Petra was the first Christian rock band I listened to. I appreciate the band because they were trailblazers in the genre of Christian rock and heavily influenced many of the bands I listened to in the future (and still do).

This is where the rubber meets the road. As Christians, we are commanded to help the poor and needy, the fatherless and the widow. Please send contributions to the Red Cross.

Tags: [Red Cross, Tim McGraw, Petra, Christian rock, Christian music, Kanye West]

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I was raised in a Christian household and went to a Christian school since third grade. I also went to a Christian college. This upbringing introduced me to the Christian music scene. But I’m not necessarily talking about the praise, worship and hymns many non-Christians may stereotype. Believe it or not, the Christian music scene has pretty much the same genres of music that are available to the mainstream - the only difference is that the lyrics are often Biblically-based or considered family-friendly.

Over the years, many of these Christian bands were second rate alternatives to their mainstream counterparts, but a lot has changed. Groups like Stryper, Jars of Clay, Lifehouse, Sixpence None the Richer, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, DC Talk and others have found success in the mainstream and Christian scenes alike.

This brings me to talk about a recent happening. Last weekend I visited my brother in the Chicago-area. I went to his church and was surprised to find that Rex Carroll was playing in the worship band! Rex was the mastermind behind Whitecross, the Christian heavy metal group I enjoyed back in the day. Although I never really was into the metal scene, Whitecross was one of those groups that really allowed me to “praise and worship” while listening to some cool music. Rex Carroll is a phenomenal guitarist - I would encourage you to check out their most popular release entitled In the Kingdom.

Interestingly, after speaking with Rex I found out that the group decided to reform to re-record their original self-titled debut album. They are taking pre-orders for the album due for a September 12, 2005 release.

Tags: [Christian, heavy metal, Christian music, Christian rock, Whitecross, Stryper, Jars of Clay, Lifehouse, Whiteheart, DC Talk]

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The Christian Church and Racial Diversity - We Need “Jack FM” Churches

In part I of A Call to Be Radical Christians, I argued that Christians should learn how to be empathic towards others. I concluded the post by quoting I Peter 3:8 which says:

“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.”

Of the five traits identified in this passage, the term “harmony” jumped out at me. Let’s examine this word from a music perspective. Harmony refers to the chordal structure of music, meaning that different notes played simultaneously can produce beautiful music together.

Today I would like to discuss racial diversity and the Christian church. I do not think God calls us to to be identical. In fact, the Tower of Babel reference reminds us that God wants there to be diversity. However, this diversity does not mean that evangelical Christians should have a predominantly Caucasian church right next door to a a predominantly African-American church. Part of my argument for a more diverse church draws on the recent trend in the radio business to change more traditional homogeneous formats to heterogeneous formats. This new format is commonly referred to as “Jack FM.”

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Within the last few years, there’s been a lot of media coverage regarding females who have committed statutory rape against minors. I’m not sure if the incident rate is rising or if it just happens to be something the media is paying more attention to.

Nonetheless, it angers me that popular culture glamorizes it yet abhores male statutory rape. Two recent examples in American culture are found in television and music:

• Television>Desperate Housewives - there is a storyline that follows one wife who is cheating on her husband with a high school student. To be fair, I believe it is mentioned that this young man is 18 years old. However, a similar incident that did involve an underage young man occurred last year on the The O.C. television show.
• Music>Fountains of Wayne - they have a song entitled “Stacy’s Mom” which depicts a young adolescent boy’s fantasy of being with an older woman. The song suggests that “Stacy’s Mom” might also have feelings for the boy.

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Okay, this is a personal music plug of sorts. One of these days I’ll post a music page or something. In the meantime, I wanted to talk about a great band called Lifehouse. Their self titled third album just came out on March 22 and I find myself riveted to the third track on the album entitled, “Blind.”

Lifehouse is part of a music genre I like to call the “in the world but not of this world” genre. What I mean by this is that the group is comprised of at least one self-professed Christian, but the music is not specifically focused and promoted to the typical Christian music scene. Instead, the music is geared for a mainstream secular audience as a way to spread positive music.

I enjoy music that can, at times, be meaningful and emotive. “Blind” seems to fit the bill because the lead singer uses the song to express his feelings towards his father, who left him and his mother when he was young.

It really lets you know how divorce affects children. The pain does not go away. I’ve been fortunate because my parents are happily married. However, I see how strongly my wife is still affected by her parents’ divorce, even though it happened close to a dozen years ago when she was almost college aged.

Tags: [Lifehouse, music]

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