-or-
I Think I May be the Biggest Craig's Brother Fan
Someone wrote a blog mentioning Dave Bazan and Ted (somewhat in comparison) yesterday. It's weird/freaky that people know who Ted is and know, to a certain extent, what he's like or what he does.
Before I write any more, you may as well know what provoked this little sojourn into self-indulgent, slop writing. Check out: The Problem Of Evil
It's funny that a blog in which the author discusses judging Ted would make me judge the author. *heh* I feel like I know exactly what kind of guy he is. (He's a kind of guy I generally stay away from). We've been judged by Christians before.
I have such disdain for smiling Christians. I probably wouldn't go to church if there wasn't a direct reason for me being there. I love my handful of true friends and family that go to the same church as I do but as for the rest of them... I have a lot of confusion as to how I should relate to them. I can't force myself to think of them as family when I know they don't think of me that way... even after 3 years together. Maybe I never wanted to relate to them at all. Maybe their hesitance/unwillingness to truly love me was merely a convenience for me.
But I digress.
I hate holier-than-thou Christians. They scare me. They are the cause of more than a few of history's major blemishes. Perhaps this is what our author was like before he mixed Dave B and Ted B in with his personal musings. Perhaps I'm a holier-than-thou in my own way... by thinking I'm holier than those who think they are holier. "The star bellied sneetches were the best on the beaches". The moral of that story? No one was better or worse than his neighbor.
Craig's Brother never tried to make anyone think that they were good Christians. I thought that was the point that was made... the line that was drawn... when Adam and Andy decided to quit several years ago. After those two left I don't think anyone else in the band ever cared what kind of people others thought they were. I guess that was evident. It's almost painful to see effects today of actions taken 4, 5 or 6 years ago.
Good. I say good, though. I agree with the theme of the blog I linked to above. I'm glad the guy could see that the guys in CB never tried to hide who they were. We have always loved to party pretty hard... but all of us have paid variable prices for our indulgences, our own "Pleasure Islands". Maybe the fact that CB was more accessible to the author of the blog made it easier to judge them than it was to judge someone like Dave B. Craig's Brother, however, has always been a willing spectacle.
People judge CB because they started out on Tooth and Nail and because they had lyrics that discussed Christian ideals. That categorized them to fit certain judgment criteria. For them it's a real catch 22. Either they're too sinful for the Christians or too Christian for everyone else. I know people around town who knew about CB but intentionally didn't listen to them just because they were thought of as a "Christian" band.
I have a wake up call for you. It's THE NEW, people. A different breed has been born. I'm not talking about a new breed of drunken, misbehaved Christians but rather I speak of the Christian who is real and alive in their day-to-day wanderings. Ever searching for the answer and striving for personal greatness... even if sometimes the striving is put on hold for a little bit of enjoyment. I speak of God loving Christians NOT imposing fascist, hate-filled beliefs on others and simultaneously not giving a fuck what other people think. This is what we're looking for. This is what I have always believed Ted and his band mates were like (except for the ones who aren't Christians).
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The Ones who Love Them (from 2/15/07)
A Work of Romantic Fancy
(Think of the movie Sky High as your metaphor reference)
We're like the side-kicks. (Myself and those like me). We got their back... but we can never be them. We wait for, care for, and sometimes, exact small forms of (mostly-benign) revenge on them.
We can't live without them. We can't be happy without them. We can't be totally happy with them either. We feel blessed by their love for us. Whatever form that love may take, we accept it, often greedily.
They take us with them, even if only in spirit. They are selfish, and so are we, even though we fancy ourselves self-less. Inspite of our selfishness, we would die for them... maybe even die to see them succeed.
We are the ones who love them.
(Think of the movie Sky High as your metaphor reference)
We're like the side-kicks. (Myself and those like me). We got their back... but we can never be them. We wait for, care for, and sometimes, exact small forms of (mostly-benign) revenge on them.
We can't live without them. We can't be happy without them. We can't be totally happy with them either. We feel blessed by their love for us. Whatever form that love may take, we accept it, often greedily.
They take us with them, even if only in spirit. They are selfish, and so are we, even though we fancy ourselves self-less. Inspite of our selfishness, we would die for them... maybe even die to see them succeed.
We are the ones who love them.
~An Ode to Craig's Brother~
~An Ode to Craig's Brother~
I get tired of it sometimes. I've been listeneing to them play the same songs with little variation for just about the last 10 years. Go to a show, go to a practice... it's all the same.
Over the last few months I repeatedly found myself wondering why they still do it. There's the obvious reasons, of course. We all like to play music. I have the desire and the descent from musical heritage, I know what it feels like... but it's not the need to play that makes me wonder. It's the unwillingness to really give up on The Brother that sometimes confuses me.
Some of you may think I'm selfish for feeling this way, but during the year and half or two years they were broken up I was happy, at least in that regard. I had my husband all to myself. He was able to continue making songs, but he was all mine. Save for school and work, of course. Then when the band reunited, there was excitement, but also a little dissapointment on my part.
Since they have gotten back together, there have been highs and lows. Busy times, but mostly down times where not a lot is going on. I think a couple of them blamed me for the lull. (I remember when they split up I was likened to Yoko Ono by one Tristan Pardee and a few of his friends. Lol. Besides the fact that I'm a vastly better singer than her, you can't compare a little Santa Cruz band to the Beatles... but I digress).
I feel as though a couple people in Craig's Brother... ok, one in particular, thought I was holding the whole thing back. I know that person is over it, whether he still holds those feelings or not, but we've all come to terms with where the band is now, and that leads me to my musings. Why? Why do they keep at it?
I was at a Youth Brigade show just about two years ago. Now THOSE guys are old. Fear is still at it. D.I., all these bands. B.R., Nofx, etc., etc. How can they do it for so long? When I start to wonder why, I settle for the simple fact that it is enjoyable for them to do it. The bigger bands make a considerable amount of money... but the little guys like Craig's brother also keep going... even if the band costs us more money than we (they) earn from it.
(The fact that we get people flying over from Australia, Canada and various parts of the US just to audition for a spot in the band... and that we get emails about how people are playing CB songs at their best friends funeral because the band meant that much to an individual, the small, but loyal, international fan base... all of that also gives power to their determination, I'm sure)
Last night I went to the beginning of the Craig's Bro practice. It was semi-unwillingly, I admit. I'm jaded and over it. I have a bad attitude. But last night, in the thick of the new song called "The Mistake of Caring" I was forceably reminded why I love them. It's not that I finally understood why they keep going, it was that I was reminded why I love them.
Don't they deserve it? In spite of the money, time and pain the project has caused my family over the years... I wouldn't change it. Not now. Not after all we've been through together.
I stood at the back of the room last night, staring at the back of Ted and Glade's heads. How odd it seemed to me. These men, who really are now men instead of the boys who began the journey, seemed so real. In earnest. I suppose this is all sentimental blither that isn' really conveying what I feel in a coherent way... but they seemed as boys standing there, and perhaps it was a mothers love that welled up inside of me... and I couldn't help myself.
They work so hard to keep it all going. Day job, blue collar Joe's (except for Ted and Heath, they're technically white collar but who's counting?) Sometimes, their "work" is just wheel spinning, I really believe that, but they still work hard, and whatever their motivation; to create, to get attention, to have a family... it's all ok. It doesn't need to be understood. It just is.
I love it. The music and the people. My people. My family. My Brothers.
I've been to amazing places and met amazing people because of this band. How proud I am to know them...lol.
Thanks for taking me along, guys.
(I can't figure out how to make my pics fit... I guess I re-size them later)
I get tired of it sometimes. I've been listeneing to them play the same songs with little variation for just about the last 10 years. Go to a show, go to a practice... it's all the same.
Over the last few months I repeatedly found myself wondering why they still do it. There's the obvious reasons, of course. We all like to play music. I have the desire and the descent from musical heritage, I know what it feels like... but it's not the need to play that makes me wonder. It's the unwillingness to really give up on The Brother that sometimes confuses me.
Some of you may think I'm selfish for feeling this way, but during the year and half or two years they were broken up I was happy, at least in that regard. I had my husband all to myself. He was able to continue making songs, but he was all mine. Save for school and work, of course. Then when the band reunited, there was excitement, but also a little dissapointment on my part.
Since they have gotten back together, there have been highs and lows. Busy times, but mostly down times where not a lot is going on. I think a couple of them blamed me for the lull. (I remember when they split up I was likened to Yoko Ono by one Tristan Pardee and a few of his friends. Lol. Besides the fact that I'm a vastly better singer than her, you can't compare a little Santa Cruz band to the Beatles... but I digress).
I feel as though a couple people in Craig's Brother... ok, one in particular, thought I was holding the whole thing back. I know that person is over it, whether he still holds those feelings or not, but we've all come to terms with where the band is now, and that leads me to my musings. Why? Why do they keep at it?
I was at a Youth Brigade show just about two years ago. Now THOSE guys are old. Fear is still at it. D.I., all these bands. B.R., Nofx, etc., etc. How can they do it for so long? When I start to wonder why, I settle for the simple fact that it is enjoyable for them to do it. The bigger bands make a considerable amount of money... but the little guys like Craig's brother also keep going... even if the band costs us more money than we (they) earn from it.
(The fact that we get people flying over from Australia, Canada and various parts of the US just to audition for a spot in the band... and that we get emails about how people are playing CB songs at their best friends funeral because the band meant that much to an individual, the small, but loyal, international fan base... all of that also gives power to their determination, I'm sure)
Last night I went to the beginning of the Craig's Bro practice. It was semi-unwillingly, I admit. I'm jaded and over it. I have a bad attitude. But last night, in the thick of the new song called "The Mistake of Caring" I was forceably reminded why I love them. It's not that I finally understood why they keep going, it was that I was reminded why I love them.
Don't they deserve it? In spite of the money, time and pain the project has caused my family over the years... I wouldn't change it. Not now. Not after all we've been through together.
I stood at the back of the room last night, staring at the back of Ted and Glade's heads. How odd it seemed to me. These men, who really are now men instead of the boys who began the journey, seemed so real. In earnest. I suppose this is all sentimental blither that isn' really conveying what I feel in a coherent way... but they seemed as boys standing there, and perhaps it was a mothers love that welled up inside of me... and I couldn't help myself.
They work so hard to keep it all going. Day job, blue collar Joe's (except for Ted and Heath, they're technically white collar but who's counting?) Sometimes, their "work" is just wheel spinning, I really believe that, but they still work hard, and whatever their motivation; to create, to get attention, to have a family... it's all ok. It doesn't need to be understood. It just is.
I love it. The music and the people. My people. My family. My Brothers.
I've been to amazing places and met amazing people because of this band. How proud I am to know them...lol.
Thanks for taking me along, guys.
(I can't figure out how to make my pics fit... I guess I re-size them later)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
