On A Lighter Note...

Forget about gay marriage; what really ticks off the Lord is shellfish.

http://www.godhatesshrimp.com/

Faith vs Literalism

For the past few weeks I've been having a mostly internal debate on the possibility of someone being a Christian (or Jew, Muslim, etc) and, at the same time, being a rational, caring, and tolerant person. This debate stems mainly from the fact that I do consider myself both a Christian and a rational, caring, tolerant person.

In doing some reading on the subject, I recently came across an article that addresses something that people will quickly point to as evidence that people of faith are a bunch of superstitious nuts. I'm referring to the insistence of some believers in the "literal interpretation" of religious texts. Of course, many of those who insist that their holy text be read "literally," really only want the literal reading to apply to the parts of the text that reinforce beliefs they already hold.

The article, posted this January in the "On Faith" section of washingtonpost.com, stems from a tragic death in Wisconsin, where an 11-year-old girl died because her parents were part of a Christian sect that does not believe in seeking medical treatment for illness or disease, relying instead upon the power of prayer and God's intervention

Brad Hirschfield, author of the article and himself an orthodox Jew, explores the ramifications of Biblical literalism, and how often it "quickly devolves into ugly and dangerous behavior." He also makes some good points regarding the difference between people of faith, even fundamentalists, and hypocrites "hiding behind a claim of reading the Bible literally, which nobody does anyway."

It's well worth reading for anyone interested in the differences between faith and fanaticism.

Biblical Literalism Kills -- Literally by Brad Hirschfield at washingtonpost.com

Photo by Flickr user Wonderlane

The Cars That Go Boom

Somebody actually took the time to make a video for one of my favorite mashups ever. And it's pretty well edited, too! (If you don't like mashups at least hang in there for the vintage Beatles cartoon.)

Beck's Record Club

Alright, so I'm about a month late jumping on this particular bandwagon but, as a fan of both Beck and The Velvet Underground, I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention the Record Club project. Briefly, here's how it works: Beck and a bunch of his friends get together, they choose an album, and then they cover it, song by song, laying down the whole LP in one day. Their first pick was one of my favorite albums ever: The Velvet Underground and Nico.

When I first heard about the Record Club, I really liked the idea - I still do, really - but after listening to their covers of the Velvets' songs I've found I'm not so thrilled with the results when the idea is put into practice. I'm sure this is in no small part due to the fact that I've pretty much memorized every song, every off-key note, every junk-soaked phrase of the source material. I know this album like I know few other things in my life. If they'd started by covering Digital Underground's Sex Packets, as Beck claims they almost did, I probably wouldn't be judging the results so harshly.

But still. These tracks - most of them, at least - sound like exactly what they are: rough, unrehearsed experiments. On the Record Club website, Beck himself writes, "some of the songs are rough renditions, often first takes documenting what happened over the course of a day. There is no intention to 'add to' the original work or attempt to recreate the power of the original recording. Only to play music and document what happens." This is the sort of stuff I'd expect to hear from a favorite local band, at the end of their last set of the night, when they're just goofing around on songs that they feel like playing.

But listen up, Beck, this album is important to me. I don't want to hear you and your friends goofing around with it, and I really don't want to hear you goofing around with "Heroin," or "Venus in Furs," two of my favorite songs on the album. The cover of "Heroin," in particular, is just awful. Out of kindness, I'm not even going to link to it. It's that bad. I'm talking about the musical equivalent of a goatse prank. All I could do was stare unbelieving at the screen for almost a minute before frantically clicking away.

I have to admit, though, that this experiment also yielded some pretty decent tracks. For example, I really enjoyed the cover of "Sunday Morning," probably because Beck had a chance to rehearse it on stage during his 2002 tour with The Flaming Lips. He does a good job capturing Lou Reed's relaxed, slightly sleepy delivery; although I'd guess "slightly sleepy" isn't too much of a stretch for the guy who pioneered slack-rock. He also provides the vocals for "I'll Be Your Mirror," and he does Nico proud.

The best of the bunch, though is the cover of "All Tomorrow's Parties." This track is absolutely brilliant, with Icelandic singer Thorunn Magnusdottir giving a slightly softer, sweeter rendition of Nico's vocals while Beck's long-time drummer Joey Waronker plays drums with one hand and keyboard with the other. Check it out:

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico "All Tomorrow's Parties" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

I still think that the Record Club is a great idea, and I'm looking forward to future releases. I just hope that, from here out, they pick albums that I'm not quite so emotionally invested in. Take note, Beck, you just stay away from The Wall and Nothing's Shocking and we'll be all good.