SUNDAY MORNING TESTIMONIES/ JONNY LANG

Jonny Lang has been called a prodigy, a virtuoso, and a once-in-a-generation blues artist. Whatever label you apply, his extraordinary talent is the real thing. Lang catapulted into the music spotlight when he was only 13.  Critics and fans alike were astounded by his soulful playing and gravelly vocals.  He sounded more like a 40 year blues veteran than a teenager from the plains of North Dakota. His debut solo album, “Lie to Me”, was recorded when he was just 15 years old.  It went platinum, as did the following year’s release, “Wander this World.”  Lang spent his teenage years with guitar legends like B.B. King and Buddy Guy and toured almost non-stop with the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Sting. Altogether, he’s recorded five albums and earned a Grammy nomination. Lang’s accolades are far-reaching.  He was named the Best New Guitarist in Guitar magazine’s reader’s poll and was also named to Newsweek’s Century Club of the 100 Americans expected to be influential in the next millennium.  He was even profiled in U.S News and  World Report. His latest recording chronicles his incredible spiritual journey and is due out in early 2006. "Between the drinking, the drugs and my fascination with magical religions…, I was about as far away from God as I could possibly be.  But my family kept praying for me, and I know God honored their prayers and snatched me up out of all that.  I don’t think I could have written a better storyline than what God has given me. I spent my childhood on a farm outside the small town of Casselton, North Dakota – an agriculturally rich spot in the heart of the Red River Valley.  My father was a farmer as was his father before him.  I probably would have been a farmer too.  But instead, I found music. My parents had a huge pile of records.  They listened to a lot of Motown, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder and Otis Redding.  My mom is a great singer – she even went down to Nashville to cut a demo at one point and took a shot at a music career.  But she chose to raise a family instead of pursuing music.  So I’ve been around music my whole life. When I was 12, my dad took me to see a band some of his friends were in called the Bad Medicine Blues Band.  It was the first concert I’d ever been to and I was thrilled.  The guitar player, Ted Larson, really inspired me; I wanted to be just like him.  My dad gave me a guitar for my 13th birthday, and I was fortunate enough to take lessons from Ted.   It wasn’t too long before they asked me to join the band and changed the name to Jonny Lang and the Big Bang. About a year later we made an album together called “Smokin’.” I got involved in “adult” activities at a very  young age.  I started drinking, and smoking cigarettes.  But there was an unwritten rule in our band that there was no drinking the day of the show.  So I managed to keep things in check... for a while. After about two years of playing together, we went down to Minneapolis to take part in a Showcase event.  There were a bunch of record labels at the show looking for new acts to sign.  I ended up getting signed as a solo artist by A&M Records.  What happened to me after that is almost a blur.  The first album we did together, Lie to Me, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s New Artist chart.  My next album was just as successful.  The excitement and pressure of being with a major label definitely changed things.  I was on the road constantly, playing with musicians twice my age in places where they check your id at the door.  But it didn’t matter how old I was because I was the headliner. By the time I was 17, I was an alcoholic and smoking two packs a day. I also started doing drugs.  It was mostly marijuana, but there were other drugs as well.  In my position, anything I wanted was just handed to me.  I used cocaine, ecstasy, and hallucinogens.  I really loved to be high.  It got to be such a problem, that if I wasn’t high I didn’t feel normal. Despite the fact that my parents divorced when I was young, they still tried to get me to go to church with them and have me attend Sunday school.  But I never really had an interest in religion.  I saw things that really burned me and turned me off to Christianity – especially hypocrisy.  However, what turned me off the most about Christianity was that I’d never seen the power of God move.  It was just a lot of going through the motions but not experiencing His power or His presence.  I thought the miracles you saw on TV were just hoaxes.  And I certainly wasn’t interested in being held accountable for my actions, which is basically what it all boils down to.  If anybody tried to talk to me about God or Jesus I would say things like, “Okay, I’ve heard that one and I’m not interested.”  I got involved in a lot of less accepted forms of spiritual expression that I thought were the right path… But I found out later where the real power is. When I was 16 I met the most wonderful girl in Los Angeles while on tour and became great friends with her and her family.  I fell in love with her right away, but she was scared of me – who could blame her?  Eventually we started dating.  When I was in town her family would try to get me to go to church with them.  But I was thinking, “Don’t even try.”  I’m just so thankful that they loved me because I was such a mess.  They loved me through all that and God gave them a heart to stick with me. Fast forward a bit.  Haylie and I had been broken up for a period of time but I was still real tight with her family. In fact, her father, Cliff, was like a second dad to me.  That sometimes made it kind of uncomfortable between me and Haylie. Cliff had become very sick – he had Hepatitis C and cancer all over his body.  It got so bad that He was being cared for by hospice nurses in their home.  I had a break in my schedule and was able to go to California for a visit.  One night while I was there, I decided to go out with a friend of mine to get high.  We went to his apartment, but before we had a chance to do anything, the phone rang.  It was Haylie’s mom ... Cliff had just died.  I remember feeling relieved, because he had been suffering so much, struggling for every breath.  Honestly, I was more worried about interacting with Haylie and her family than I was about Cliff actually passing away.  I didn’t have very much backbone, and I wasn’t prepared to deal with the whole situation. But I had to go back to the house.  While I was walking out in the hallway of my friend’s apartment building, I was suddenly hit in the stomach by the most incredible force. It spread from there and filled my whole body.  I had this soundness of mind and this extraordinary peace that I just couldn’t explain.  It was an incredible feeling. After a few minutes I started rationalizing – it was probably just some sort of primal instinct that comes out to help cope with the death of a loved one.  In my mind, I tried to find a natural explanation for it.  I certainly never thought it might have something to do with God. When I got back to the house, everybody was just beside themselves.  I was not the kind of person who could deal with those kinds of emotions.  But whatever had happened to me in that apartment hallway gave me a special wisdom to handle it.  Everything I said was the perfect counsel – wisdom that I just did not possess.  For some reason I had the most remarkable heart to be the counselor.  I was even using words I’d never used before!  At one point I said out loud, “Who are  you?”  Thinking back on it now, I can almost hear God chuckling in the background. After a little while, the pastor of their church came over.  I was upset at his presence; I figured he would just fill them with false hope and say things like, “Cliff is in a better place now.”  A better place?  I didn’t believe that... Cliff was just dead, end of story. We all went into Cliff’s room and gathered around his body.   The pastor started singing “Amazing Grace,” and I started rolling my eyes.  But it was their dad, who was I to make waves, so I mumbled the words too.   When the song was over, that same peace hit me again – and this time it hit the whole room.  Everybody went from being completely hysterical to poof ... the grieving was done.  Again, I figured it was just something therapeutic to help them manage. When the morgue was coming to remove Cliff’s body, I thought it would be best if Haylie didn’t see that.  So I took her to the back yard.  We talked about what had been going on that night and our memories of her dad.  All of a sudden, I got hit in the stomach again with that tremendous force.  It was almost like I had to throw up – I couldn’t keep it down any longer. Bursting out of my mouth came the word “Jesus!” right in the middle of our conversation.  The power of God hit me so hard that I started shaking in my chair.  It was like somebody grabbed my shoulders and shook me forcefully back and forth.  It didn’t hurt, but it was violent.  Yet at the same time I felt total peace.  He didn’t say “Hey, this is Jesus” or anything, but I knew it was Him.  I heard Him say to me, “You don’t have to have this if you don’t want it.”  I was completely and utterly amazed, and I definitely wanted it.  I wanted it more than anything I’d ever wanted in my whole life.  I kept shaking and shaking until I fell to the ground.  I gave my life to Christ right there at that moment. While I was lying on the grass a filmstrip was playing in my mind.  Memories of all the times I’d persecuted Christians came clearly into focus.  I remembered how I’d told my dad he was crazy for what he believed.  Later, I called my dad and told him I’d given my life to Jesus.  Do you know what he said?  “Yeah, I knew that would happen someday.”  You see, they’d been praying for that moment all along. At Cliff’s funeral a few days later, I confessed publicly that Jesus was my Lord and Savior.  Haylie and her mom almost fell off their chairs.  Even though Haylie had been sitting next to me when I had my encounter with the Lord, she doesn’t remember anything about it.  In a court of law I’d probably be overruled – there’s no proof of what happened.  But I know it happened, it was a private, supernatural moment between me and almighty God. What’s so miraculous about this whole experience is that I had not been pursuing God.  I despised Him.  I was living with total hostility toward God and He still loved and delivered me.    While I was shaking I was actually being delivered of all the addictions and demons inside me.  From then on, I had absolutely zero cravings for the drugs, the alcohol or the tobacco.  The best recovery program in the world can’t claim that. He also healed me of another thing that night ... dyslexia.  My whole life, this learning disability had prohibited me from sitting down and reading a book – it was just too frustrating.  But when Jesus touched my life, he healed me of dyslexia and gave me a heart to read the Bible.  More importantly, He gave me the ability to comprehend it.  So what the enemy meant for evil – in the area of my reading comprehension – God meant for good.  The first book I ever really read was the Bible – what a great place to start!  The most convincing reason that I know He’s real is that I know the person I was before I met Him.  I know the way I thought and the way I conducted my life.  That old person was replaced with a brand new one, a person who was willing to conform to the image of Christ.  All the sermons in the world could not have convinced me of that.  But He convinced me Himself and I know the truth.  I’ve witnessed so many wonders and miracles and God just proves himself to me constantly. There’s nothing that could convince me otherwise.  Jesus is alive.

Fun stuff for the weekend -- Elvis

Thought provoker

What makes a song a classic?  Whether or not it stands the test of time?  The artist who first performed it?  The era from which it came?  Probably all three.  Every music lover has a their favorite classic song.  Many people favor “Hotel California,” “Respect,” “Let it Be,” and “Like a Rolling Stone,” as timeless songs.  As someone who was born in Memphis and raised on Elvis music, the coveted title of “my favorite classic song” has always been “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You.”  
Here’s a rare video of The King himself performing his signature song. The lyrics.  The music.  The very essence of this song gets me every time.  It has been covered by countless artists and bands but no one does it quite like Mr. Presley.  What’s your favorite classic?
-J. Burton

music fun facts

TGIF

-- To win a gold disc, an album needs to sell 100,000 copies in Britain, and 500,000 in the United States. 
-- Melba toast is named after Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931).

-- Music was sent down a telephone line for the first time in 1876, the year the phone was invented.

-- The CD was developed by Philips and Sony in 1980. 
-- 40 billion songs are downloaded illegally every year, that’s some 90% of all music downloads.

-- The music industry generates about $4 billion in online music but lose about $40 billion to illegal downloads.

-- Top-selling albums used to reach sales of 20 million copies before the advent of online piracy – by 2009 it had dropped to about 5 million.

-- The number of recorded CDs and blank CDs sold were about equal.

-- About one-third of recorded CDs ever sold were pirated.

-- The Star-Spangled Banner became the US national anthem in 1931. Prior to that, it was My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” which had the same melody as Britian’s national anthem God Save the Queen, which is based on music written by John Bull in 1619. Bull’s melody has been used more than any song in national anthems.

-- The British anthem was performed the most times in a single performance. In 1909, while waiting for King Edward VII who was getting dressed, a German band played the anthem 17 times.

-- Tap dancing originates from Irish clog dancing and what is called the Irish reel and jig.

-- It was at a concert in Minneapolis in 1954 that Al Dvorin first closed Elvis’s concerts with: “Ladies and Gentleman, Elvis has left the building. Thank you and good night.”

-- Elvis' favorite collectibles were official badges. He collected police badges in almost every city he performed in.

-- Elvis was an avid gun collector. His collection of 40 weapons included M-16s and a Thompson submachine gun.

-- Duran Duran took their name from a mad scientist in the movie Barbarella.

-- Bob Dylan’s first professional performance was as opening act for John Lee Hooker at Gerde’s Folk City in New York, 1961.

-- Before they were known as Journey, Steve Perry called his band Golden Gate Rhythm Section.

-- Kenneth Edmonds was nicknamed Babyface by funk guitarist Bootsy Collins.

-- The world’s largest disco was held at the Buffalo Convention Centre, New York, 1979. 13,000 danced a place into the Guinness Book of World Records.

-- In August 1983, Peter Stewart of Birmingham, UK set a world record by disco dancing for 408 hours.

-- Ireland has won the most Eurovision song contests (7 times).

-- Annie Lennox holds the record for the most Brit awards (8).

-- The Beatles hold the top spot of album sales in the US (106 million), followed by Garth Brooks second (92 million), Led Zeppelin (83 million), Elvis Presley (77 million), and the Eagles (65 million). Worldwide The Beatles sold more than 1 billion records.

-- Klezmer music is derived from two Hebrew words, clay and zimmer, meaning “vessel of music.”

-- The Ocarina, a musical wind instrument, is also known as the Sweet Potato.

-- The LP (long-playing) record was invented by Paul Goldmark in 1948. The LP is not dead yet: more than 10 million LPs are sold every year.

-- The longest song to reach number one on the Billboard charts on LP was “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” by Meatloaf, the shortest: “Stay” by Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs.

-- At the first Grammy Awards, held on 4 May 1959, Domenico Modugno beat out Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee for the Record of the Year, with “Volare.”

-- The British, the highest per capita spenders on music, buy 7.2% of the world music market.

-- The first pop video was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, released in 1975.

-- The Beatles song “Martha My Dear” was written by Paul McCartney about his sheepdog Martha.

-- Jeanne Louise Calment’s CD was released on her 121st birthday in 1996. Titled “Time’s Mistress” it features Ms Calment reminiscing to a score of rap music and other tunes.

-- A grand piano can be played faster than an upright (spinet) piano.

-- A piano covers the full spectrum of all orchestra instruments, from below the lowest note of the double bassoon to above the top note of the piccolo.

-- The harmonica is the world’s best-selling music instrument.

-- The term “disc jockey” was first used in 1937.

-- The last note of a keyboard is C.

-- Themes from movies Unforgiven, A Perfect World, The Bridges of Madison County, and Absolute Power were all written by Clint Eastwood.

-- The US share of the world music market is 31.3%.

-- The only guy without a beard in ZZTOP, his surname (last name) is Beard.

-- Since its launch in 1981 the song Memory of the musical Cats has been played on radio more than a million times.

-- Paul McCartney was the last bachelor Beatle when he married Linda Eastman in a civil ceremony in London, 1969. Paul’s brother Mike was his best man. No other Beatle attended the wedding.

-- There are 6 versions of Franz Schubert’s “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”), simply because when friends asked him for copies of the song, he wrote out new copies to the best he could remember at the time.

-- In 1952, John Cage composed and presented ‘ 4’33″ ‘, a composition consisting of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence.

-- The Carpenters signature song, We’ve Only Just Begun, was originally part of a television commercial for a California bank.

-- In 1972 Leslie Harvey of Stone the Crows died after being electrocuted onstage in England. In 1976 Keith Relf, who used to play for The Yardbirds, was electrocuted by his guitar while playing in his basement. During a performance in 1994 Ramon Barrero, a Mexican musician famous for playing the world’s smallest harmonica, inhaled the harmonica and choked to death.

-- U2 was originally known as Feedback. To date, U2 have sold more than 70 million records, grossing $1.5 billion.

-- In May 1997, Paul McCartney broke his own world record by obtaining his 81st gold disc.

-- Global sales of pre-recorded music total more than $40 billion.

-- The top selling singles of all time are Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind ‘97″, at 33 million, Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”, 30 million, and Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock”, 25 million.

-- DVD discs are the same diameter (120mm) and thickness (1.2mm) as a Compact Disc (CD) but a DVD can store 13 times or more data.

-- Beethoven was the first composer who never had an official court position, thus the first known freelance musician. Born in 1770, he grew up poor, but published his first work at age 12. By age 20 he was famous. He often sold the same score to six or seven different publishers simultaneously, and demanded unreasonably large fees for the simplest work. He was short, stocky, dressed badly, didn’t like to bath, lived in squalor, used crude language, openly conducted affairs
with married women, and had syphilis.

Traveling Vagabonds

They Tried To Make Me Check My Tuba, I Said No, No, No

DARYL P. FRIEDMAN

Life just got simpler for musicians flying with their instruments, and in some strange way, we have Amy Winehouse to thank for it.

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. Boring name. Cool result. Tucked in the massive, 145-page bill is a provision that at long last standardizes instrument carry-on policy, giving musicians the certainty and clarity they deserve.

The bill was signed into law two days after the GRAMMYs, and in fact the GRAMMYs played a role in its passage, as did Winehouse, bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs, and an 81-year-old cigar-smoking Republican congressman from North Carolina named Howard Coble.

To understand how this unlikely cast of characters coalesced into a victory for musicians, let's rewind. For nearly a decade, our friends and allies at the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) have sought to solve a problem for musicians traveling by air: Each airline had its own rule about carrying on instruments. Musicians dreamed of having a clear, consistent policy, but the only way to accomplish that is to mandate it through legislation. A solution was placed in a draft House bill, but the dream was stalled for years. At last year's GRAMMYs on the Hill Advocacy Day, this issue was one of the key lobbying talking points as we walked the halls of Congress with our AFM brothers and sisters.

The House provision was inserted by someone who might seem as an unlikely champion, Greensboro, N.C. Congressman Coble. But to those of us who know him, Coble is a friend of music makers and intellectual property, and the recipient of the 2002 GRAMMYs on the Hill Award.

Let's let the National Journal (Feb. 18, 2011) take it from here:

"You see, Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., who pushed the [instrument] language in a House markup this week, is a groupie for both [Scruggs and Winehouse].

"Ed McDonald, Coble's chief of staff, told National Journal Daily that his boss's vested interest comes from a longtime friendship with bluegrass legend and fellow North Carolinian Earl Scruggs, whom Coble presented with a [Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award] in 2008. But friends and constituents alike might be surprised at what they'd find on Coble's playlist.

"'Usually, the modern stuff goes right over his head,' McDonald said. 'But one time we were at a [GRAMMY] rehearsal — he's always been involved in the music industry — and he heard Amy Winehouse and told me, 'You know, I really like that rehab song.' I can tell you, it was something I never thought I'd hear Howard Coble say.'

"The Senate passed a version of the reauthorization bill on Thursday; there is no timeline yet for the FAA measure to hit the House floor. Once it does, though, you can bet Coble will be there with bells — or headphones — on."

One year later, the bill has passed with the instrument provision. Traveling with your guitar? Bring it on board and place it in any available compartment where it fits. Afraid to check that prized Guarneri Cello? Buy it a seat and have it travel on the plane next to you. Regardless of the carrier, the rules are now clear and standardized.

So next time you're flying home from a gig on a red-eye and your instrument is safely tucked into the bin above you, look down at the lights below and thank Howard Coble.

Then look up at the lights above and thank Amy Winehouse.

Spotify - record labels - it hurts so bad

FREE OR NOT FREE ---THAT IS THE QUESTION

   

I'm not sure where the confusion is about this being a totally free service. Where there is smoke there usually is fire! While there is free limited access,  there is and will always be, in a platform like this, enticing upgrade charges, and that's OK. In my opinion there is nothing innovative here. It's just a twist on every other streaming platform out there. I say try them all until you find the one that suits your fancy.

As far as the record labels go; OUCH!! While infringing on their revenue stream, in a small way, the labels do receive a discounted   licensing fee. Another sign of the times!

Spotify the music-streaming service has launched in the United States today.

The concept is simple. You sign up for an account and get access to 15 million songs. Depending on the type of account you have, it will determine if you will get the service ad-free or have unlimited streaming. It will also determine what devices you can share your account across, and how much offline storage you have.

To create playlists, users can drag and drop or right click on tracks. They can also share their playlists through Facebook and Twitter by posting a link instantly from Spotify.

As a cloud music service, Spotify is able to give users access to their playlists from anywhere and also offline. Even if you’re stuck in the subway and there’s no wifi, you can access your Spotify account, so long as you still have battery on your device.

The late arrival of Spotify, a Swedish company, to the U.S. is in part the result of the company wanting to properly establish their service before expanding overseas; getting the license to all the songs, which is usually a lengthy process, was the second reason, and hesitation to license songs on the part of the US music industry may also have contributed.

What Spotify means for the future of the music industry is perhaps not as revolutionary or devastating as the record companies might fear, as similar applications like Pandora have had their wave of success, and the industry is still standing. However, what Spotify adds to the scene is the ability to create a larger global music source.

Please comment and join our email family. Thanks, J. Grady