Pop Culture:

Hitch, February 14, 2005
My wife and I saw the new Will Smith movie Hitch Friday night. That's the most enjoyable movie I've seen in years, with fine comedic performances by Smith, King of Queens' Kevin James, Eva Mendes as a gossip columnist and former model Amber Valleta as a young heiress. Guys, if you don't know what to to for Valentines Day, you should consider taking your wife to see Hitch....

A Letter From Dr. James Dobson, January 29, 2005
Editor's note: I have reproduced in full a letter posted on the website of Focus on the Family founder and chairman Dr. James Dobson. If you have children and you care about their future, you will read it in its entirety. Dear Friends: If you had told me a month ago that I'd be devoting my February letter to a cartoon character named SpongeBob SquarePants, I'd have said you were crazy. Nevertheless, by now you...

Soul Music, January 27, 2005
Christianity Today's Books & Culture website has a review of Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog, "the first book of sermons inspired by what just might be the world's most influential rock 'n' roll band."Reminding, comforting, and challenging are recurring themes in Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog. Editors Raewynne J. Whiteley and Beth Maynard, both Episcopalian ministers, have produced the first book of sermons inspired by what just...

For Good Or Evil, January 27, 2005
Two news stories about music today. This one illustrate musicians using music for good. This one illustrates musicians using music for evil. Review of the former here. As for the latter, how anybody can make fun of the death of a quarter million people is beyond me....

The Strait Truth, January 18, 2005
Just arrived via the Pony Express: When it comes to real country music, no one does it better than George Strait. If you like country music, this is a must-have 2-cd set. (Though, for a really complete Strait collection, you also need his 72-track 1995 box set.)...

What He's Looking For, January 07, 2005
Tod Bolsinger, author of two excellent books about authentic christian living and the right way to do church, is wondering how to get U2's Bono to come to church more often....

Heartbroken, November 22, 2004
Mucking around on Netflix, looking for old movies to add to my rental queue. Breakheart Pass, a 1975 Charles Bronson western based on an Alistair MacLean novel, isn't available. It should be - it's a fine film. Hey, NetFlix... you have an unhappy customer here... Ah well, Amazon has it. MacLean, a Scottish novelist who died in 1987, wrote some 27 adventure/thriller novels. I read many of them as a kid, including Ice Station Zebra,...

That's a Rap, November 19, 2004
Young Buck might surrender.People in the Nashville rap community rallied around Young Buck yesterday, while Santa Monica, Calif., detectives seeking him in connection with a stabbing were negotiating with an attorney for his surrender. Young Buck, 23, whose real name is David Darnell Brown, is accused of stabbing a man at Monday night's Vibe Awards in California; the incident apparently was sparked when the Nashville rapper's musical mentor, Dr. Dre, was punched just before being...

Bucking the Nashville System, November 18, 2004
Nashville, the home of country music, has long had dreams of becoming more than that in the music business, but never has had much luck launching a non-country music artist or band to national stardom. Until this year when a rapper named Young Buck released Straight Outta Ca$hville, and saw it debut at No. 3 on the Billboard chart. Now, Young Buck isbeing sought in connection with a stabbing at Monday night's Vibe Awards, an...

Team America, October 19, 2004
My wife and I plan on seeing Team America: World Police Saturday night. LT. Smash has a round-up of blogger reviews. If you've seen it already, consider the comments section on this post an open thread for reviews, but please don't give any secrets away......

From Southern Rock to Hip Hop, September 27, 2004
Interesting story from music journalist and critic Ron Wynn in today's Nashville City Paper:Journalist and critic Mark Kemp remembers growing up in the South during the turbulent civil rights era, and witnessing firsthand the turmoil and racial conflict. He found through the music of such groups as The Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd inspiration and a new identity that embraced the region's joint musical heritages of blues and country. His new book Dixie Lullaby: A...

Telling Off The Boss, August 10, 2004
George Miller, my erstwhile London correspondent who went off and started his own blog (the nerve!) has a good - no, excellent - commentary about Bruce Springsteen's decision to perform concerts on behalf of the Kerry campaign. In "The Boss Takes A Dive," Miller upholds Springsteen's right to be political in his art, but says he's "marginalised himself, culturally, in the American culture war" by agreeing to headline a series of anti-Bush concerts sponsored by...

The Pitts, May 17, 2004
Forbes examines the myth of Brad Pitt....

What Would Jesus Blog?, April 07, 2004
Christian outreach is rightly going high-tech, hip and modern, reports FOX News.A gaggle of ministries have taken their biblical messages down unconventional paths to appeal to 20- and 30-somethings. Using Web sites, multi-media, pop culture and edgy language, organizations like www.relevantmagazine.com and Fireproof Ministries (and its anti-pornography Web site www.XXXchurch.com) are reaching out to young Christians in more modern ways than established organized religion ever has. ... The Web's activist role, especially among the 18-to-34...

Scooby Don't, April 06, 2004
The Detroit Free Press has noticed the drug-inhaling scene in the new Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed movie - and praised it. Reviewer John Monaghan writes:Those who find a thinly veiled drug reference in all those Scooby snacks will appreciate the scene where Shaggy sucks on a whipped cream container.Shaggy doesn't suck on the whipped cream container, he inhales nitrous oxide from it. The problem with that is, this movie isn't just being marketed to...

Huffing and Puffing, April 05, 2004
Blake Wylie spotlights the unconscionable decision by Warner Bros. to include a scene in the new Scooby Doo 2 movie that portrays "huffing" - inhaling nitrous oxide - in a humorous light. Wylie provides a link to a clip from the movie. In the scene, "Shaggy" huffs nitrous oxide from a whipped cream can. What's so bad about that? Huffing can kill you - and its incidence among children is on the rise. I'm going...

More on "Punks for Bush", March 21, 2004
In response to yesterday's post about a New York Times article spotlighting support for President Bush in an unlikely venue - punk rockers and fans - Mike Hollihan sends a link to a recent Washington Times story about Johnny Ramone, former leader of the seminal punk rock band The Ramones, and current big backer of President Bush and the Republican Party.He was a rebel in a rebel's world, though. Johnny Ramone was a fiercely Republican-voting,...

Punks For Bush, March 20, 2004
Today's New York Times has a fascinating article about punk rockers supporting the re-election of President George W. Bush. Not long ago I linked to an article by Todd Anderson questioning why punk and rock musicians tend to toward the left, politically, when it is the left that promises more authoritarian Big Government nanny-statism that the rockers seem to despise.Weirder still is that rock, with its inherent anti-authoritarianism, would inspire audience and bands alike to...

Mommy Issues?, March 09, 2004
Todd Anderson, the designer of HobbsOnline, has written about rock 'n' roll and politics for the online version of The American Spectator. Don't miss it. Here's an exceprt......

R-E-S-P-E-C-T , July 15, 2003
The contemporary Christian music industry is taking a different approach to try to curb illegal music downloading. Rather than preparing to sue thousands of its fans, the industry is "responding to the problem by appealing to their customers’ faith and moral values," reports Nashville City Paper:The Christian Music Trade Association has formed an anti-piracy task force that is meeting weekly to develop ways to spread the word to Church groups and CD buyers that downloading...