Activity

We have come to rest our heads in foreign places. Foreign people and foreign sounds become increasingly familial with every passing hour, and with every passing day. This is unstepped territory and this is unspoken prose, even if only for the time being. We will replace the familial with the foreign. But, eventually, the things we hadn't truly known become the norm.
And once again, we have come full circle.

Change your ways every day
Change the things within you
Look for grace in every place
Find the grace that defines you

For, if we continue to practice the same old routines, traditions, and expectations; we will, at best, become stagnant in our ways and in our attitudes. And, as is known by all who have considered the idea, stagnancy breeds nothing short of apathy, indifference, and lethargy. And, with these traits, we will never do a thing, let alone conquer hearts and minds. After all, to truly accomplish anything at all, we must act and we must show our colors. And, if our inactivity has laid our initiative dead on the ground, we have no room to complain about the circumstances we've let fester. We should know first hand. Because as we have allowed each of our bodies to progressively degrade to nothingness, at the same time we've allowed progress to do the same.

Get up, do something
Get up, improve yourself
Get up, improve others
Get up, and be the best you know how to be

Ben Trickey

This is a guest piece I did for the music blog Nine Bullets (ninebullets.net). It's a rad blog that covers really great music. Be sure to check it out.



Ben Trickey, an Alabama native, an Atlanta transplant, a heartbreakingly honest crafter of songs. Born in 1979, Trickey began writing songs in 2001, and has since crafted four full-length albums, six EPs, and one split album with friend and fellow songwriter Brandon Schmitt. His americana-meets-indie/folk style has allowed him to grace the stage with renowned artists such as The Grand Archives, William Elliot Whitmore, Sera Cahoone, and Horse Feathers. What’s more, though, is Trickey has seemingly done all of this utilizing a DIY mentality, with little to no label assistance.

Now, I understand it may be difficult to fully realize Ben Trickey’s musical style from the previous blurb. So, I ask you to imagine the following. You step into a southern dive bar, located on a side street in that first rural town outside the city limits – a place where, when dark, you can really hear the crickets and you can really feel the night. The place you go to hide from your fears with a pitcher of PBR – rustic and run down, but homey and welcoming just the same. In the corner you notice a stage, a small platform, really, with a lone microphone. On that stage stands Ben Trickey, with his guitar and his beers. As he sings his quiet, bare-bones songs, you notice that he isn’t singing to anyone in particular, let alone the few patrons of the bar. Perhaps he’s just singing to himself, as a reassurance that he can make it through the night. As he sings his slow, simple songs, you are taken back to a dustbowl-era mentality. A time when the folk singers were few and far between; a time when the folk singers weren’t just good, they were damn near perfect.



Absolutely give Ben Trickey a chance. I think his tired heart deserves it.

Recommended if you like: Van Morrison, Lucero/Ben Nichols, M. Ward, Neko Case, Pedro the Lion, The Grand Archives, quiet Drive By Truckers


Soldier by Ben Trickey

Cheap Wine and Cigarettes by Ben Trickey

Absence by Ben Trickey

An open letter to Bill O'Reilly

Dearest Bill O'Reilly,

I'd like to address your repeated claim of the supposed "Bush haters". In reality, it seems that the people you call out are, in fact, just very partisan leaning liberals. The fact that they hate George Bush is a moot point due to the fact that what they really are doing is not necessarily pushing against Bush, but staunchly adhering to their liberal beliefs.

So really, the core of the problem here is strict partisanship. But, when you call out these people as "Bush haters" you are falling victim to the partisanship problem as well. For, you are not also calling out the haters that exist on the extreme right wing of the spectrum too. In this lack of condemnation for the extreme right wing partisanship that is also occurring, you make it seem as though you have pardoned them for their equally poor partisan judgments. I feel if you want to maintain any kind of credibility in your news-casting, you must condemn all partisan adherence, rather than just the liberal side of this spectrum.

For example, you are always condemning NBC for its liberal leanings. But you never condemn your own network for its own conservative leanings. Fox News is no less of a "hate monger" than is the NBC network. You can't just call out those who do not agree with you, and let those you do agree with to get away with everything you've already condemned on the other side of the spectrum. This is not a fair and even approach that you are taking with the condemnation of "Bush haters". The overarching problem is extreme partisan politics on both sides of the spectrum; and you must condemn this behavior on both sides, not just the side you disagree with.

Thank you very much; and I look forward to your response.
Daniel Anderson