The other day, during the "Celebrity Soup", on "Simon in the Morning", Scott Simon had a blurb about Weird Al Yankovic. According to the report, Weird Al has parodied some country songs on his next CD.
The story reminded me of a song rewrite I did awhile ago. The song is Alan Jackson's "5 O'Clock Somewhere", with Jimmy Buffett.
In my version, I had country song parody artist, Cledus T. Judd doing Alan Jackson's lines, and Weird Al doing Jimmy Buffett's.
In light of the news about Weird Al's latest CD, I've decided to post my parody of "5 O'Clock Somewhere" on this blog.
My apologies in advance for the size of the print. I couldn't make it any larger, and still have it fit the blog.
Whether it’s good, or bad, remembered by one person or many, there will always be defining moments in each person’s life. Like many people living in this area, May 18, 1980 was a day I’ll always remember; the day Mt. St. Helens erupted.
I attended Clark College at the time and was the entertainment editor of the college paper, The Progress. While that last sentence probably wouldn’t mean anything in ordinary circumstances, in this case, it’s a large part of why I remember this event so well.
There were several months of “maybes”, and “possibilities” before the mountain actually erupted on this date thirty-one years ago. Newspapers, radio, and TV stations broadcast the latest news about the mountain daily. The slow news days would bring the “side stories”; for instance, Harry Truman, a gentleman who had lived on Mt. St. Helens for years. He said he wouldn’t leave the mountain, even if he was ordered to. His wife and family were gone, and he’d rather go with the mountain than leave it.
The retail business got in on the whole thing as well. Overnight, “I Survived Mt. St. Helens” t-shirts, and other things were showing up on store shelves; and being sold almost as quickly. I received a t-shirt as a gift at the time.
I also remember the radio stations in the area picking up on Jimmy Buffett’s “Volcano”. They played it a lot, because it seemed to fit the situation so well. It was kind of cool to have a song we could call our own.
After awhile, people seemed to think the mountain was a joke. Some believed the mountain wasn’t really going to blow; it was all just media hype. Others thought it would be cool to see it erupt. No matter where you went, people were talking about Mt. St. Helens.
As mentioned earlier, I was part of the college paper at the time, and taking journalism. Our teacher, Sydney Craft-Rozen, had been an editor at the Columbian, and her husband still was at the time. Needless to say, we did spend a lot of time discussing the mountain and how it was being portrayed in the media. At some point it seemed like everyone had written something about the mountain, except me. As the entertainment editor, I decided to write a “review” of Mt. St. Helens’ “performance”. It was totally tongue-in-cheek, and not meant to be printed.
The review told how the mountain kept making promises of a big performance; yet, didn’t follow through with the promise. I remember my overall rating being something like, “despite the grand beauty and presence of Mt. St. Helens, her performance is lackluster. Instead of exploding and grabbing the audience’s attention, the mountain just blows a lot of smoke, and fizzles out at the end”. It was funny at that time, and fit in with everything else that was going on. It was just one more joke about the mountain, among many others.
Luckily, as stated earlier, the “review” was not intended to be published in The Progress, and it wasn’t. In hindsight, I’m very glad of that.
My “joke” didn’t seem funny at all on the morning of May 18, 1980. A lot of things didn’t seem funny that day, or in the days to follow.
I remember exactly where I was when I learned that Mt. St. Helens had erupted; I was at work, and my parents called to tell me the news. At that point I had a flood of emotions, and guilt. Guilt about joking around about the mountain; sad for those who had died, everything mixed together.
On my way home that afternoon, of course the radio stations were talking about what had happened. I just listened; absorbing all the information I could; trying to understand it all. Then, one station played Jimmy Buffett’s “Volcano”. I just cried and got angry. What had seemed like such a great song before was just tacky then. How could people still make jokes, play that song, everything, now that the mountain had really erupted? I didn’t understand at all, and it made me angry.
I spent the rest of that day in front of the TV, listening to reports and seeing all the film footage from the mountain, and other places that had been affected. The Toutle River looked like someone had emptied a box of toothpicks into it. The difference, there was no box; and the “toothpicks” were actually trees, hundreds and hundreds of trees being swept down the river.
The ash had moved to the east after the eruption. Newscasts showed the city of Yakima, Washington around noon; it looked like midnight, there was so much ash.
I also had trouble wrapping my head around the fact that 2000 feet of Mt. St. Helens was gone. The actual thought didn't sink in, until I realized I lived at 1100 feet; that's 900 feet lower than the entire amount of the mountain that was now gone. All I could think was, "wow!"
The following day, during journalism class, we talked about all the aspects of what had happened over the past few months, and the eruption itself.
Reid Blackburn was a photographer for the Columbian at the time, and good friends with our teacher and her husband. He’s one of the people that died on the mountain that day and our teacher was having a hard time with it.
From a journalistic point of view, everyone in the class had their perspective on things, like the photos in the newspapers. The front of the Oregonian that Monday had a black and white aerial photo of a truck almost buried in ash and sediment. In the bed of the truck was the body of a man, who was obviously dead. Some in our class thought it was too graphic to be in the paper; especially on the front page. One student though said it was that photo that brought the reality home to him. Seeing someone in a photo, and knowing they were dead made things seem more real.
Another topic of discussion was a question of how many people died because of Harry Truman? The decision was made to let him stay in his home near Spirit Lake. This caused others to stay, or go up to the mountain as well. We, (the class), wondered, if Harry hadn’t been allowed to stay on Mt. St. Helens, how many others wouldn’t have been there either?
After class, I had even more emotions raging around inside. I felt for our teacher, I still had the guilt about my “review”, just so many things I needed to get out. I went home, and poured everything into an opinion piece, and turned it in the next day. Writing it out helped me to feel better, and helped me to express to others why I felt the way I did.
It’s been thirty-one years, and it still feels like yesterday. Every May 18th all the raw emotions come flooding back, and I remember all of it. So, much like that college day so long ago, I’ve written this blog for today. It’s in memory of all those who died, for all the emotions that still come back; just for everything in general about Mt. St. Helens.
The Doobie Brothers are one of the latest acts to jump into the country music pool. From some of the reactions I've heard, you'd think it was the end of the world. Really though, what's the big deal?
It's not like the Doobie Brothers are the first crossover from another genre into country music. Off the top of my head, I can think of several bands/artists who've come over to country, either permanently, or for a brief stay. Conway Twitty; Marty Robbins; Kenny Rogers; Vince Gill, (with Pure Prairie League); Jimmy Buffett; Van Zant; Olivia Newton-John; John Denver; Charlie Daniels, (his first commercial hit was "Uneasy Rider" in the late 70's); the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; and probably the band closest to being like the Doobie Brothers, the Eagles; to name a few.
In 2011 alone we've seen Darius Rucker; Uncle Kracker; Kid Rock; Sheryl Crow; and Aaron Lewis make strides up the country music charts. With the exception of Lewis, all these artists made the country charts before this year as well.
The pendulum can swing both ways. Carrie Underwood; Faith Hill; LeAnn Rimes; Taylor Swift; Shania Twain; and others who started their careers in country have, on occasion, made the climb up the adult contemporary, or other music charts.
On a slightly different track, I can think of at least two tribute CD's featuring country artists; "Come Together...America Salutes the Beatles", and "Common Thread: Songs of the Eagles". Neither the Beatles, or the Eagles are considered "country"; though the Eagles come close, I think.
Back to Shania...I know I'll tick a lot of people off with my opinion, though I'll state it here anyway. To me, Shania Twain is "created" country. What I mean by this is, before her success, Shania was married to Robert "Mutt" Lange, a huge name in the pop and rock worlds. A large part of Mutt Lange's success was getting artists noticed. For example, Adam Ant and Huey Lewis & the News both interacted with Lange early in their careers.
While there's no denying Shania has talent, I think Mutt knew she'd be just another voice up against Celine Dion and Barbara Streisand. Instead, he reinvented Shania, branding her as "new country", pushed her through the "back door" so to speak, and promoted the heck out of her. And it worked; who doesn't know the name Shania Twain? I honestly don't feel Shania would have been a superstar, had she not been promoted the way she was. A star, yes. A superstar, no.
Then there's Garth Brooks. While Garth is definitely more country than Shania, he did try his hand in the pop world as well; under his alter ego, "Chris Gaines". Garth also has never denied his admiration for the band Kiss. Why should he? Why should anyone have to pretend not to like something if it doesn't fit their image?
If you really think about it, it seems as though it's the media and fans who "pigeonhole" artists into certain categories. One example is a person I know who is a major Bon Jovi fan. Loves everything Jon does, except anything that even hints of country. I don't understand why this person, or anyone, feels that way.
Musicians are artists, they're creative by nature. Look at the influences of almost any musical artist in any genre; what you'll find is, most of them have a wide array of musical input they draw from. Just because an artist or band plays a certain type of music doesn't mean that's all there is to them. Everyone has different facets to them; nobody is one dimensional.
Not totally convinced? Consider this: Let's say no musician, (it could be anyone, musicians are the example I'm using), ever decided to look, or reach beyond what they'd learned naturally. All of them stayed content just playing the music they were raised on. Where would the world be musically in the 21st century? A good guess is we'd still be beating rocks with sticks, or whatever. There wouldn't be classical music, opera, jazz, big band, soul, r&b, country, rock, pop, techno, rap, hip hop, or any other genre of music; all because someone didn't branch out.
That's not to say that everyone has to like every genre of music; that's not possible. In fact, it's a pretty good bet that's why there *are* so many types of music; because someone wanted to play and/or sing something new and different. Or they didn't like what they heard and wanted something better. There are any number of theories I could list here; the point is, somewhere way back in history, someone *did* try to be different. Music has steadily evolved over the centuries from that point.
Another facet of all this is the Grand Ole Opry. It's no secret that in the past the opry has had some very ridged rules performers had to follow, or they wouldn't be allowed onto the opry stage. One rule was there were to be no drums or horn instruments allowed during the performances. Yet, artists such as Pee Wee King, and Bill Monroe bucked the system and did it anyway. Slowly, over time, the opry has made changes in it's rules, while still maintaining it's dignity and reverence.
As I stated earlier, this doesn't mean everything runs smoothly all the time; it doesn't. Again, not everyone will be happy about all situations every time. I think what people running the Grand Ole Opry have learned is, keep up with the changing times, without compromising themselves, or the opry's heritage.
There are so many facets and levels of this subject that can and should be explored. My thoughts, ideas and opinions have barely scratched the surface of this topic. With this blog getting on the long side though, let's get back to the subject of the Doobie Brothers going country.
I still don't understand what the big deal is about the Doobie Brothers doing a country song. In my opinion, any of their early hits could easily be considered a form of country music; just like the Eagles early songs.
To be honest, I really liked the raw, gritty sound the Doobies had before they were "Michael McDonaldized". Not that Michael McDonald isn't a good artist; he is. He's also done his fair share in the country music realm. I just think he took a really cool band with an edgy sound, and polished them way too much. I liked the Doobie Brothers much more when they weren't so polished.
It's that raw, gritty sound the Doobie Brothers have come back to with their latest single, "World Gone Crazy". The first time I heard the song, I knew immediately it was the Doobie Brothers. It was like that sound had never left; just took a break, and now it's back and ready to do business. If people would just give them a chance, I think they'd do country music proud. They already have a leg up on a lot of the newer country artists emerging lately.
Over all, in the long run, I think what's important, is that the history of country music, (or any genre for that matter), never be forgotten, or pushed aside; yet still be allowed to flourish and grow in different directions, rather than sit and stagnate.
