canorus (CC)

But that’s what you get when you’re raised by parents that collected records and appeared as DJ’s on-air, and off-air in dance halls for the better part of two decades. Thanks to them, my personal record collection has a little bit of everything, from Bruce Springsteen, to The Who, to Jimmy Beaumont, to Tchaichovsky, to Louis Armstrong, to the Cure, to Agnostic Front, etc. (My digital collection is far more diverse.) And they didn’t stop with just encouraging me to listen to music. Not unlike Billy Joel, they forced me to learn to play the organ – that turned into learning piano. Later, I ended up picking up the flute, percussion instruments in general, string bass – jazz-style, and a little acoustic guitar. And that lead to more than a few situations where I ended up “jamming” with friends of my parents that were involved in the Pittsburgh music scene.

The most important thing I learned along the way came from a man named Joe Rock – the man who wrote “Since I Don’t Have You” that was performed by Jimmy Beaumont and the Skyliners. He was their manager for years, before he moved on to Nashville, and one thing everyone could agree on about him was that he knew music. And one day, he sat me down and asked me about a few songs from some bands that wanted him to represent them, mostly because my father had been bragging about how well he had taught me about “good music.” Rock wanted to see if that was true, so he played the records for me, and asked which bands were worth representing. I was terrified, but answered – and named the ones he was interested in dealing with anyway. He looked me straight in the eye, and told me, “Music is a personal thing. There’s music you really love, and then there’s good music that you know someone else might really love. The good music that others might really like is stuff you might want to own, but the stuff you love owns you.”

He was talking about the industry when he said that, and it took me years to realize what he really meant. It was a statement about having the ability to recognize talent, without being subjective. It was about listening to music without letting one’s personal opinion about it taint that determination. Rock hated each one of the bands he played for me that day, but he helped them make it anyway. He didn’t like their music, but he knew they had talent, and the potential to make it. And that is how I listen to music, to this day. I have hundreds of albums, and only a handful that I can tolerate listening to from beginning to end. There are probably at least a hundred albums that I own simply because I liked one song, and couldn’t find it as a single – even do that today, since iTunes restricts purchasing of some songs to “album only.”

About eight years ago, I was in a local bar listening to a young girl sing. She looked like she was terrified of the crowd. She had zero stage presence, and to call her “less than confident” would have been extremely kind. Her mother was there, biting her fingernails, and I felt sorry for them both, primarily because I couldn’t help thinking that I knew right then and there what Red Foley must have felt when he first heard Brenda Lee sing. I knew one way or another that scared girl was going to end up in the industry, and I was right. Her name was DeAnna Dawn Denning, and now she’s the lead singer of “Difference United”, a Christian rock band out of Nashville. And yes, this atheist that can’t stand that genre of music at all has added that band to Spotify, because I still love her voice.

And what does this have to do with conservatives? Well, there’s been a little war of sorts going on, involving some high profile conservatives and some struggling musicians. No, I won’t mention names because it’s not necessary, and honestly doesn’t make a damn bit of difference. The stupid posturing and bullshit that’s been going on is why conservatives are failing miserably at what Brandon Morse over at Misfit Politics aptly pointed out that we need to succeed at doing. We, as conservatives, are failing at connecting with the public, because we can’t speak on a cultural level. And it’s no wonder that we can’t, when we have people running around picking on stupid things.

I’ve listened to music from more artists than I care to think about, and own music from just about every genre out there, with the notable exception of rap. (Sorry, but I just can’t make myself tolerate rap in general, certainly not enough to shell out cash to own it.) Like I’ve said, I don’t love it all. But I can still spot talent and potential as well as I ever could. And there is quite a bit of it out there in the ranks of conservative artists. Big Dawg Music Mafia has plenty of artists to choose from, in several genres. Do I like them all? No. Do I think they all have potential? I’ll get back to you on that one, once I’ve taken the time to hit at least a few tracks from each of them. But, no matter what, there’s one thing about each and every one of them. They are out there trying to do what we need to be doing as conservatives – they are out there delivering our message in a way that has the potential to reach masses far beyond our ranks.

One thing we have to remember about these people is that there’s a very good reason why many musicians have agents – they need them, to deal with the industry, and the public. I don’t know any performers that are “normal” by any stretch of the imagination. Some of them do manage to put up a very good front, and appear that way. But, for whatever reason, creative people simply don’t fit molds – myself included. So, to run about crucifying them because they have trouble occasionally playing like social butterflies is beyond counter-productive – it’s downright stupid. It only shows that one has no decency or character – you know, the sort of person Sarah Palin would rail for using the “R-word.” Hate someone’s music? Fine. No one’s saying you have to love it simply because the artist is conservative. But don’t run them down to everyone else either! What you think sucks, might be great to someone else. That’s just arrogant, and insulting – to not only the musician, but also everyone else. Sure, I share my playlists with the masses on Twitter, but I don’t sit there and say that if someone doesn’t absolutely love everything I listen to regularly, they’re idiots. Even my playlists are full of songs that I rarely listen to, because I have to be in the “right mood” for certain stuff.

So, the bottom line is, if you’re out there telling people not to pay attention to a conservative artist, shame on you. I’m not saying you need to campaign for them, especially if you honestly don’t like their music. But, if you’re telling everyone that someone’s music isn’t worth listening to in the first place simply because you don’t like it (or worse, because you don’t get along with the musician), you’re part of the problem conservatives are having getting our message out to a wider audience. Just like your mother should have taught you, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all!”

Recognize this? It’s the same 4 chords….

** Warning: There is one foul word toward the end of the song * *

“Faith & Freedom” from his 2012 release “The Greater Cause.”

“We gotta rise up
We gotta stay strong
‘Cause everything’s on the line”

Powdered Zombies is none other than Steven Crowder and Chris Loesch, wearing powdered wigs and dressed up in the garb our Founding Fathers wore.

Be sure to pay attention to the racist message at the 2:55 mark. I never would have known it was racist, but thanks to the liberal media, we now know…. this song and video is racist.

Next thing you know, a black-tie event is going to be racist. No worries- the liberal media will be sure to let you know when it is official!

So what is “i-dosing? It’s websites that play music, but it’s not music. The “music” that is played from these websites are “different frequencies that promises to deliver an effect much like opium, cocaine, or marijuana.”

The real danger, according to doctors, is that teens may want to end up trying drugs for real after trying the websites.

i-dosing is such a new “drug” that no real studies have been done on its side effect.  However, according to brain imaging experts, sonic drugs do change the brain, the experts just do not know how much.`

I met Steve, The Balladeer on Twitter. Over the last couple of years I’ve had numerous conversations with him, and have, over time, built what I would consider to be a real friendship, even if it is in the virtual world. I have no doubt that if I was in a real bind I could count on my friend Steve, otherwise known as “inhuggermugger” to me, to do whatever he could do to help me.

It was not until some time later in our online friendship that I learned he is a musician who has released his own CD.

As a lover of music from many different genres, I was quite anxious to hear the music from the heart and soul of one of my dearest friends.

If you love music- and I mean real music- I definitely recommend you give my friend, Steve, The Balladeer a listen. He is what I would classify as a beautiful throwback to a time when music was truly music. You can clearly hear the individual musical instruments accompany his rich and melodic voice without overpowering him.

Unlike so much of the music of today- and this includes music that I actually like- you do not have to strain to hear and understand the lyrics of the songs that flow so freely from the heart and soul of Steve, The Balladeer.

His first CD, “Romance and Sorrow”, is composed mostly of songs which were written and originally recorded about 12 years ago- with a few exceptions.  His song, “Copper Brown Eyes” was written in 2002 as a Valentine’s Gift to his wife. What a unique and beautiful gift that must have been for her!

“The Banks of the Colorado” was written in 2001 about a trip he and his wife made to my home state of Texas to visit his in-laws.

For “Your Down Is Up to You”, we have to travel all the way back to Steve, The Balladeer’s songwriting days of 1971- give or take a year or two!

The songs that make up “Romance and Sorrow” are quite different in mood from the songs of his next CD, which is called “Ballads in Praise of the Muse”. That recording is very near completion and will be released in the very near future.

“Romance and Sorrow” consists of songs with a more “worldly” aspect to them.  As the Balladeer, himself explains them,

“They look ‘outward’ to try to say something ‘outside’”.

However, the songs of “Ballads in Praise of the Muse” are more poetic and ‘inward’. Though many of the songs are written in the same time-frame as “Romance and Sorrow” there is more of a meditative, spiritual quality to “Ballads in Praise of the Muse”. The Balladeer says this is why he grouped these songs apart from the ones on “Romance and Sorrow.”

You can see from some of the titles of the songs on “Ballads in Praise of the Muse” that this CD is quite different. Some of the songs on the upcoming CD include:

“Barbie Allen”
“Hamlet at the Graveside”
“Knowing”
“Ballad of the Thorn and the Rose”
“I Will See You in Jerusalem”
“The Light of God”
“Tell Me That You Love Me”
“I Want the Fire”
“Solitude”
“You Set My Spirit Free”
“My Slumbering Heart”

as well as several others.

With the song “Barbie Allen”, The Balladeer took about 30 different versions of the classic Celtic/American folk song, studied them all for about 2 or 3 hours, closed the originals, and then completely rewrote his own version.

When speaking of “Hamlet at the Graveside”, Steve says that it may be he most audacious piece of songwriting ever. Quoting from him on this song, he says:

If you know anything about the play “Hamlet,” you will know that the hero Hamlet is deeply in love with Ophelia, but because the play is a tragedy, he and she are unable to fulfill their love for various reasons that I cannot go into right now.  At the end of the play, Ophelia dies BEFORE Hamlet has a chance to say “goodbye” to her! He comes back to Denmark from England (where he was supposed to be killed by agents of his arch-enemy, the present King of Denmark) only to find his beloved Ophelia is dead! But Shakespeare has already, at this point, written the longest play he has ever written, and HE MUST HURRY TO THE END OF THE PLAY!! There is no time for Shakespeare to dwell on Hamlet’s feelings for Ophelia before the end of the play!!

The plot must move on!!

So, you guessed it: I’ve written the song, that is “Hamlet at the Graveside,”  [which is] Hamlet’s farewell to Ophelia, the song that Shakespeare WOULD HAVE given to Hamlet to sing if there had been time enough in the play … but there wasn’t!!

Steve says that “Tell Me That You Love Me” is the only song that he has ever written for a young lady to sing, and adds:

I am hoping that Mary Sarah will sing it, because she is the perfect age and her voice is just DYNAMITE!!!

I would have to agree with The Balladeer, regarding Mary Sarah! Her voice is indeed DYNAMITE! To hear her sing a song composed by the talented Balladeer would indeed be a treat for us all, I have no doubt! Steve says he is waiting on the copyrighting process to be completed, and the moment that is finalized he will send it to her for her review and consideration.

The song is about a young lady who believes that she is in love, but does not want to be fooled. The song is about lessons on boys and men taught to her by her mamma and daddy.

This is one song I will wait with baited breath for, hoping that Mary Sarah will agree to sing it!

Steve, The Balladeer says that his dream is not primarily to be a singer, as he feels he is too old for that. (I would have to respectfully disagree with him on that point!) He says that he instead would like to be a songwriter, with his songs being taken by singers who do not have their own songs and record them with their interpretation.

It seems as though Steve does not sit still! He is also working on a third CD, which will come out as soon as the songs are copyrighted and recorded. When I read the title of the third CD I knew immediately it is a CD I want to hear!

“I Sing for America”. There is beauty in the title alone that reaches to the very heart that beats in this author. Steve says that there a a few Public Domain songs, but otherwise, all songs are written by him.

Here is a listing of the songs on “I Sing for America”:

“I’ll Be There” (was written right after the 9-11 massacre)
“We Roll On” (was written in response to our invasion of Iraq)
“Everyday for Me Is the 4th of July” (was written after reading ”John Adams” by the historian David McCullough, as well as just his general response TO JUST BEING AN AMERICAN!)
“No Greater Love: The Fields of Pennsylvania” (this one took him 7  years to write! This is yet another one in response to the 9/11 attack on America, and the heroism from Valley Forge, to Gettysburg to Flight 93)
“On the Liberty Bell” (still a work in progress, at the time of the writing of this article, but is almost completed. He started writing this one on Easter Sunday. The song centers around the text written on the Liberty Bell, which is taken from Leviticus, and is the perfect symbol of America–it fuses Passover and Easter into ONE image, as Steve explains it.)
“Danny Boy”
Battle Hymn of the Republic”
“Stars & Stripes Forever”

The most interesting of details came out about the third CD, “I Sing for America”. Steve, The Balladeer says:

The only reason that I include “Stars & Stripes Forever” on the CD is because I am going to WHISTLE it!

This should be a most interesting CD, indeed! I look forward to hearing it in the very near future, as well as “Ballads in Praise of the Muse”. Fortunately for us, we can listen to Romance and Sorrow and purchase it at Steve, The Balladeer’s website.

On The Web
Romance and Sorrow
Steve, The Balladeer on Twitter

Give a few minutes out of your hectic schedule to listen to the music, look at the pictures and remember – if they weren’t defending us.. who would?

God Bless all those that serve and all who have served.

The CDN staff is putting together a special presentation for Monday as a tribute to our Marines, Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen.

We’ve all gotten them. Some of us get them every day. Some of us are the culprits of sending them. The forwarded emails.

There are many beautiful stories and quotes passed around the internet that have truly touched my heart over the years. Many of these stories I have received more times than I can recall. There are many silly forwarded emails, some funny forwarded emails, quite a few thought provoking emails, and the occasional quite annoying forwarded emails. The ones I hate the most are the “chain letter” type that says if I truly love Jesus I will forward the email to 12 of my friends, and if I don’t forward the email then I am denying Christ. I believe that it takes a lot more to deny Christ than not forwarding an email. But that’s just me.

However, there are the rare forwarded emails that I have actually never seen that touch my heart to the very core of my being. This is the case when I received a forwarded video a couple of months ago.

When I opened up the video link in the email I heard the most beautiful voice singing “The Star Spangled Banner”. It was actually an audition to sing the National Anthem at the opening of the Houston Astros game. The voice stopped me in my tracks. Her voice was astounding, bringing up deep emotions inside of me as I heard the lyrics of the sacred anthem of One Nation Under God.

The voice I heard that day belonged to a 15-year-old Texas native, Mary Sarah.  I was so moved by it that I became a culprit, and forwarded it to many of my friends, insisting that they had to listen to this young lady’s voice! And then I went searching to find her on my favorite social network, Twitter.

If you have not heard of Mary Sarah, you are missing out on an angelic voice! At just 15-years-old, I have no doubt Mary Sarah will be taking the country music world by storm!

Mary Sarah is no stranger to the music scene. At the age of 8-years-old she was singing in church. She has performed on many country radio stations; she has performed at many charity events; she has performed at many Opry Theaters around the state of Texas; she has received national recognition and awards for her songwriting talent; and, to top off all of these accomplishments, she has shared the stage with names such as the legendary Oak Ridge Boys.

By the age of 12 Mary Sarah was touring the country as a lead vocalist and dancer in Kidz Bop, a Razor & Tie Records and Vee Corporation production, produced by Michael Anderson in Los Angeles. The production has resulted in 7 Gold albums with “kid friendly” covers of hit songs.

She has performed to audiences of 4-6,000 kids at a time, which has helped develop her stage performances, as well as helped her to gain national and global recognition.

After completing the Kidz Bop tour, Mary Sarah returned home to Texas where she continues to perform at various events.

Music is not all that defines Mary Sarah. She is a young lady who has a strong faith, loves her family, and has a passion to work with various charities. The charity that is most dear to her heart is The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).  Mary Sarah’s brother, Chris, has Juvenile Diabetes. This past fall she performed the National Anthem at the opening of The Walk to Cure Diabetes in Houston. In an interview at the event, she told the Houston Post, “I want to be a voice for those who need one.” This quote has given me a higher respect for Mary Sarah than even her beautiful voice. It strikes a common thread for me, personally, because I too want to be the “voice for the voiceless”.   

If you are in the Houston area, you may want to see if “OPRY on the Square- Country Now and Then” is playing in the Sugarland Square. Mary Sarah will be hosting 4 shows during the 2011 season. If you like country music, this is a little Texas lady you do not want to miss out on hearing and seeing! 

I have absolutely no doubt that Mary Sarah is going to have a successful career in the music business. Her love for traditional and modern country music, along with having the opportunity to write with such greats as Nashville songwriters, Tony Mary and Karen Staley, are sure to assure her a strong foundation for a successful career.

Mary Sarah’s audition video that I originally saw paid off! She sang the National Anthem on opening day for the Houston Astros on April 10, 2011!

To paraphrase the National Anthem, which Mary Sarah so proudly and beautifully sings, I proudly hail Mary Sarah! If you are a country music fan I am just about willing to bet you will be a Mary Sarah fan!

http://www.marysarah.com
www.youtube.com/marysarahmusic    
www.twitter.com/marysarahmusic 
www.reverbnation.com/marysarahspace
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mary-Sarah/109974905078#!/pages/Mary-Sarah/109974905078?sk=info