They Stopped Loving Her Today

Observing the rapid decline of the formerly dominant media culture in the US is getting to be a richer experience by the day. ABC News actually cut off an interview yesterday with a relocated Katrina evacuee because she responded so gratefully and so positively towards President Bush in lauding his truly compassionate efforts towards helping the poor and the dispossessed of the Gulf Coast region which has been so hard hit in recent weeks. The interviewer was clearly baiting the lady, who happened to be black, into saying negative things against President Bush on behalf of the many victims from New Orleans and other evacuated areas who have been affected by the recent hurricane and floods. But, she expressed only gratitude and much appreciation for the federal response and instead, criticized state and municipal response as having been totally unsatisfactory. The interview was going so badly for ABC News and its leftist, anti-Bush agenda, that it actually cut the video feed midway through the interview without explanation or later replay. The mainstream media wants bad news for conservatives to be the dominant item on their agenda at all times...in Iraq, in Biloxi, in New Orleans. But there are good news stories illuminating many substantive efforts and positive developments resulting from policies of the current administration, which simply can no longer be suppressed anymore by lame, liberal biased news organizations or strident leftist activism in the wake of new media, ascendant conservative culture and the maturing of the American political mind.

A stark example of just how galling these mawkish, media lemmings are today, can be found in an item posted just yesterday at Powerlineblog.com which details the true, unvarnished background of "media mom" Cindy Sheehan who has been lionized by the extreme left in recent months for her angry protest against George Bush for "killing her son" in Iraq. Ms. Sheehan makes her close associate and supporter, the avowed anti-freedom advocate, Michael Moore, look like a choirboy, as the powerlineblog item discloses.

In light of this unflattering unveiling of Ms. Sheehan and her activist communist consorts, you'd think the media would be all over this story revealing what it has now discovered about this once sympathetic media darling and leftist icon...but the media are nowhere to be found on this story proving once again the chasm of disconnect between liberal bias and the truth.

Note: Prayers and best wishes go out this weekend to all the Godbloggers at Hugh Hewitt ....discover some great blog links here.

RIP COUNTRY MUSIC

Country music as an art form is dead. It has been for awhile now, but the cadaver continues to be propped up for display in order to serve the malign purposes of a wholly cynical, nutrient-free corporate industry designed to sell the masses a lifestyle-light product appealing to women predominantly, and whose bottom line is automated, consolidated, monopoly radio airplay control.

Mmm...sounds delicious.

Reminds me of a song actually ...how did that go again...? Oh yeah...in his classic song called "Visions Of Johanna", Bob Dylan sings..."in this room the heat pipes just cough...the country music station plays soft...but there's nothin'...really nothin' to turn off..." Exactly right.

I'm obviously supportive of various individual efforts to be successful in the country format however, as I'm a free enterpriser and a dedicated fan of true talent whatever the format choices or genres and as far as the business goes, hey...I think I said it best in my song A Buck Is A Buck ...check it out.

But, it's good that alternative avenues of promotion and distribution exist today for artists across all genres. In order to be able to exploit their work and gain acceptance for their created visions as artists, new methodologies are a true blessing. There aren't really many artists of substance left at the major format level now anyway as most have been dropped in favor of the grotesque cross-platform junk merchants dominating today who can not only afford to play consolidated radio's expensive game, but who actually encourage more of monopoly posturing in the marketplace. God knows, the former monopoly on copyright control is pretty much out the window for the music business today, so I say let it be. Good luck to Infinity and ClearChannel. After all, with the severity of the multi-billion dollar write downs and staggering losses radio has incurred this last couple of years, they're going to need it. By the way, the new classic country radio format now springing up will suit some for the short term, but like so much of classic rock radio, it is already doomed to the insipid, consultant driven programming constraints of sanitized mainstream commercial formats. Old country has outlived its time and better purposes as a genuine force in shaping the values and culture of song creation in any event.

Songwriters today are not looking to continue in the lyric traditions or musical footsteps of great country writer/artists like Hank Williams or Merle Haggard. As Tom Petty plainly puts it in his great song "Money Becomes King" it all just makes him crave a light beer. These days music itself seems to be nothing more than an ongoing light beer commercial. I don't drink anymore, so that might be part of my disconnect, but as a professional songwriter I can tell you that songs which aren't written for specific cross-platform projects and radio promotion, are not as well received in the business today as those which are manufactured "in-house" by production teams.

EMI Music Publishing Nashville in fact has recently changed from having a "Creative Staff" to now employing an "A&R Staff". That's a groundbreaking, monumental distinction in terms of music publishing functionality. You have no idea what that really means...but, I do. And, sad to say as well, for all those pure songwriters out there especially...the reality today is "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue".

As for me, my music is online, downloadable, freely accessible and features solid songwriting from stem to stern. Yes, there's some country in my blood, but not the beer commercial variety. I'm a lyricist/composer of substance AND commercial disposition...I like to write Hit Songs while conveying something real in an artistic sense. Hope you enjoy.

But my songs deal with things beyond "party time" if you catch my drift...I also don't write exclusively for only female sentiment. I love women, but I write from inside my heart and soul as a man who also has a brain, for women who also have brains and men too of course. Indeed, all of my major influences were great male writer/artists with whom I could personally identify and relate to...Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard, Tom Petty...artists that many women also enjoy, but not due to songwriting or singing designed only to cash in on the lowest common denominator or cheap Oprah Winfrey type sentiments that SOME women gravitate towards. My kind of woman wants a man to be a man and not a male sister she can confide in. I was born in a time when men were men and women were damn glad of it...that still makes a lot of sense to me, but then again, I am definitely an "A" type Alpha male.

That will have to suffice for today’s blogging folks as I'm outa here.

Until next time, don't let your deal go down.

Frank Trainor

Quote of the day..."You gotta be born on my side Sweetheart"
[Jack Fate...from "Masked And Anonymous"]