WANTED. Up-tempo Radio-Ready Drivel.

I was reading a posting over at Ninety Mile Wind on the current state of the country music market that prompted the following response:

The current parade of country drivel on terrestrial radio is perceived to be what the customer wants, and in some respects, it IS what the customer wants, or at least what they are willing to settle-for to get where they want to be. They play it, and people listen. (or at least advertisers think so)

Artists and writers can't stand most of it, of course, but the market exists, and it comes with formulaic risk that is easily exploited by the accountants and execs.

Pop culture will always exist, and it will rarely be pretty, and will almost always be laughable and/or forgotten in hindsight, but as long as people will put up with them, 30 second hits are not going away.

There will always be someone willing to whip up what the customer will consume.

I'm reminded of a quote from Henry Ford. When asked about giving the customers what they want, he replied, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said 'Faster Horses'.

People and labels may think they want more drivel (uptempo horses), but what people really want is a way to extract themselves from reality and for that, the current drivel and vacuum-packed productions deliver! Even we, as artists, have to admit we’re distracted from reality as we contemplate how such a mindless song ever made it to the airwaves.

Unless presented with a different destination and a compelling vehicle to get them there, the consumer will continue to shovel all the hay and manure the label’s hit-farms have to offer.

Songwriters. You were made for a higher purpose.

©2009 Tim Wheeler

Are We Just Too Paranoid?

Are we just too paranoid about our kids. This is an enlightening piece... brave enough to look facts in the face.

The King Is Dead.

Michael Jackson was an Icon with a capital ‘i’. He took his work seriously and never produced a sub-par piece of work. Whether you like his style, or not, you cannot deny his consistent level of excellence. I remember waiting to watch a new video or listen to a new song when he would be working. My expectation was that it was always top shelf. I don’t remember being disappointed.

His personal life, of course, was a freak-show. There was a sweet innocence about his demeanor. Personally, I prefer not to think he was perverted, that he was trying to go back to another time when everyone wasn’t suspect. I may be wrong, but I prefer not to have to rectify that type of perversion with the art and message that his art portrayed. Some know the truth, but in this day and age you don’t know who’s telling the truth.

It was obvious he was trying to fill a bottomless hole. His plastic surgery, skin color, Neverland. Deep down, I think he was longing for acceptance. Perhaps, from his father. Perhaps from his fans. Perhaps from the press. Perhaps from himself.

Surely he got glimpses of it when each of his projects were released... Thriller had no critics... but I sense it was never enough.

I cranked up BLACK OR WHITE last night. I love that song.. mostly I love the performance. There is so much energy in that performance and so many other MJ creations.

I never idolized Michael Jackson, but I bought his stuff. It was always worth the money. I did my part to contribute to his acceptance, but I’m only human, and in the end, its not our acceptance by other humans that counts.

“If you’re wantin’ to be my brother it don’t matter if you’re black or white.”

Bradley Russell Flamm 1982 - 2009

When I first met Brad, he was 2 years old. Brad had a mind of his own. He was a handful. He was a joke-ster flashing a mischievous grin whenever you caught him in a prank or in the process of planning one.

If you know Brad, you know the look.

I figured he’d would grow out of it. At times, I prayed he’d grow out of it... but, he never did. Whenever I would see his face, it was not long before it held that look. That grin.

I have to admit that there were times I wasn’t in the mood for that grin.

But now... Now, I crave it.

That infectious smile that required you to move from one emotion to another.

It took me a while to realize it, but Brad longed to do that in life. He lived to move others from one emotion, whatever it might be, to an emotion that required a smile.

Sure, he would be serious sometimes. Sad. Mad. Frustrated. But he would always lace his mood, his situation, his decisions with that classic 2-year old mischievous grin.

On his myspace page, there’s a section where he could write a little description of himself.

This is what he wrote:

I am a very open-minded individual. Extreme optimist, always looking at the brighter side of things, even when it's hard for others to see...Things always happen to me...good, bad, it's all the same to me...Always trying to smile...I like to smile, almost as much as I enjoy feeling others smile. And I smile even more if I played a part. I love life--I look at it as a grand adventure. There's a secret to it, you have to learn to ride the waves...Human bodies naturally float, right? Since I was born I have grown strong, straightforward, intellectual, philosophical, AWARE, fearless but respectful, proud but humble, adventurous, spontaneous, empathic, romantic...A thinker as well as a doer. I don't bullshit--the things I believe in are Peace, Love, HOPE, Loyalty, Selflessness, JOY, Destiny, Respect, Honesty---I never lie...unless it's the right time....Timing is everything...Timing is perfect-----So over the years I've learned Patience as well. I am good and bad--I am everything, yet I am nothing...I am as wild, ferocious and destructive as the most savage of beasts, but as calm and gentle as a Sunday breeze....or the serenity of the sea....I am nothing more than a gift to Earth--a caretaker, cultivator and motivator.

                                                        - Brad Flamm

There will always be a special place in my heart for Bradley. There will always be a hole in the fabric of our family when we gather in the future. A critical element missing in the chemical mix. You are truly missed, Brad.                                                 

A Little Parable About Breaking Rules

I got a ticket once while living in Texas. I needed to make a U-Turn. I pulled into the left turn lane, and looked up to see a No U-TURN sign. I turned anyways.

When the officer asked me, “Did you see the no U-turn sign back there?“, I played dumb. I answered, “no officer” with my best puppy-dog-eyes, and with the utmost respect. He wrote me a ticket, anyways.

You may be interested to hear what the ticket was for. Making an illegal U-Turn? No. He wrote me a ticket for ignoring a traffic signal.

Several years later, I was pulled over for not stopping completely at a stop sign. When the officer pulled me over, he asked me, “Did you see that Stop Sign back there?” I said, “Yes sir, I know there’s a stop sign back there, I see it every night... did I not stop?”. He let me off with a warning.

You see, I had learned a valuable lesson. It seems that, in Texas, it’s sometimes OK to break the rules, but its never OK to not know what the rules are. Ignorance is not an excuse, and stupidity carries a stiff fine.

Going Green

We drove out to Oxford, Michigan to cut down some Christmas trees on Saturday. I’d love to say its been a family tradition, but we started using artificial trees back in the early 90’s.

We had fun, but as a result our 18, 22, and 24 year olds lamented about all the fun memories they didn’t have embedded in their brains as a result of our going “green” with plastic and steel trees 10 years ago.

Of course, we hadn’t gone green at all. WHO KNEW?!? It turns out, as our Christmas Tree farmer explained, that the way to go green is to cut down your own tree every year. He was a great guy, and took the time to explain how much carbon monoxide our potential tree, waiting in his field, had scrubbed from the atmosphere over the past 5-7 years while it happily matured in his garden of trees. He explained how each tree was drip irrigated, rendering each specimen a near-perfect shape and well distributed growth along the entire perimeter of the tree. He also pointed out that each tree was examined by him and priced personally by him, and that the purchase price was a fair price given the time and resources and genuine love for the craft that he had put forth in his own labor. He certainly was passionate about pine.

I have to admit, though, the tree we selected and hacked off is beautiful in its designated corner in our home. Its fragrance wafts supreme as we enter the house every day. Wonderful. Its needles, firmly in place, no doubt because of its spoon-fed, drip-irrigated upbringing, will offer our family joy over the coming weeks. While I used to have to pick which side sits forward on the Frank’s-nursery-live-trees-of-Christmas-past, I had no such decisions to make this time; its perimeter flawless, making the position in which I dropped the tree just as good as any other I may have selected. (Besides, Frank’s went out of business years ago.)

And the price? I bet you’re wondering how much it cost to be so ecologically correct, and intimately connected with the environment for our Christmas season.

Well, lets just say there’s more than one reason they call it “Green”.

Change The World

A great Sunday, this week. I played and sang at church this weekend. We did an instrumental version of Eric Clapton’s “Change The World” (Gordon Kennedy of WhiteHeart cowrote that song) as a prelude, Stefan Van Voorst’s “Change the World” as an opener, and closed with Chris Tomlin’s “God of This City” (an anointed song.)

The message this week was the final week in the series, “I’m Sorry. Apologizing for a sinful Church.” This weeks topic was the most controversial, apologizing to people of the Muslim faith.

Even as you read this, you probably have a mixed reaction to that title. Maybe indignant. I don’t blame you. As a nation we’ve had quite a tumultuous century, so far. 911 threw our economy into a tailspin, already racked with the tech bubble bursting, only to build artificially on another housing bubble that has now burst. The war, and the middle east conflict is ever-raging and foreign video of Arabs burning the American flag tends to have a strong influence on our predisposition towards the faith of Islam.

I was curious how the subject would unfold.

The service started with a video of Arab-Americans who have had their Americanism questioned in the past 8 years. We had a guest speaker in from Atlanta, Buddy Hoffman. who related his experiences during the 911 week. He was with a retired General when the events went down, and many commentators were using the phrase “cowardly act” to describe the terrorists attack. The general responded by saying, this wasn’t cowardly. These people believe what they believe, perhaps even more than what we believe. I’ve often thought about that, as well.

His assertion was that this war will not be won with guns and cannons, and I think he’s right. He asked this question: If we woke up an discovered that Washington had been obliterated, and every church in the nation had been burned down.. would it be over? Not for us, right? It would just be beginning. How can we begin to imagine we can stop a movement with the same methods.. albeit our focus being on the most radical aspects of that faith. Just as if we are approached in an anti-Christian manner, we’re most likely not going to listen, our methods to approach Muslims, as a church, have been largely ineffective, and therefore, most-likely careless; more about affirming our faith, than reaching out to Muslims.

For those of you who don’t know, I live in the suburbs of Detroit, where outside of the middle east, there lives the largest population of Arab-descent in the world. I interact and work with people of the Muslim faith on a daily basis, as do many of my neighbors.

I was challenged in the fact that I know only what I’ve been told (mostly by Christians) about the Muslim faith. What I didn’t know, is that Muslims, in large part would be interested in talking about Jesus Christ. You see, the Koran says that there is only one God and that we should make a straight path towards him. It also states that Jesus was born of a virgin and is the messiah. Did you know that? There is much common ground in which to start a conversation with a person of muslim faith. I’ve got some reading to do.

I’ve know for a long time that the Arab nation are the descendants of Esau, son of Isaac, twin brother of Jacob, who was cheated out of his birthright by Jacob and mother Rebecca. Its not surprising that his descendants are a bit miffed.

While I don’t think we will see an end to the middle eastern conflict in our lifetimes, I think we can do a better job of creating dialog with those we know, who practice the faith of Islam. While it may only be in our own little worlds, we have power to make positive change happen within them.



Look to You

What do you believe in? Do you believe it’s true,
or do you hold it over others who don’t believe like you?
Call it righteous indignation, or a justified alarm,
but muster His compassion for those who wish you harm

Our world, your world, will look to you.

The world is full of anger, and broken empty dreams
And the canopy that shields her is tearing at the seams
And hatred, rage and vengeance seem a natural response
But you know your call is greater, as a child of renaissance

Our world, your world, will look to you.

We’ll look to you to see how you respond in tragic circumstance.
We’ll look to you to see what happens when your enemies advance.
We’ll look to you to see just where you turn when you haven’t got a chance.
We’ll look to you

I know it must be tempting just to follow happenstance
It’s hard to lead the music, when you really wanna dance
But the servant that’s within you is calling you to stand;
The reason for your being may be close at hand.

And our world, your world, will look to you.

Tim Wheeler (ASCAP) ©2005Weaver of Melodies Music (A Bug Music Co.)

Listen to “Look To You”