I must say I was horrified but not quite shocked when Former Rep. Tom Tancredo implied that Barack Obama won the election because of blacks and immigrants. He basically said that he won because we no longer have civic literacy tests. Any quick scan of what those were will show you that what he meant was Obama won because we no longer deny black people the right to vote based on ridiculous tests that most people couldn't pass. While he was wrong on the fact alone that more white people voted for Obama than any other group, I do have something to say about the notion of literacy tests.

Too many of us hear "literacy test" and think it is simply measuring the ability to read. That is not what they were. I can even wrap my brain around this: Should ALL of us have to take a simple civic literacy test to vote? Maybe, but then ALL of us should have to take the same tests, much like a driver's test. The fact is that for 70 years or so the color of your skin would determine whether or not you had to take the test at all and the local commissioners could decide who had to take what test. Here are a few questions that might appear:

Name the Attorney General of the United States

I know MANY people who could not answer that question. They don't deserve to vote? That is just the tip of the iceberg:

If the President does not wish to sign a bill, how many days is he allowed in which to return it to Congress for reconsideration?

I do not know the answer to that question. Guess I can no longer vote, because knowing that sure is important.

In what year did Congress gain the right to prohibit the migration of persons to the United States?

The answer, I'll have you know, is 1808. This test was from 1965. WTF? Last one is from Georgia:

Who is the Solicitor General of the State Judicial Circuit in which you live and who is the judge of such circuit? (If such circuit has more than one judge, name them all)

Well that's certainly justified. Who doesn't know that? I don't see anything wrong with this at all. Voting is a privilege after all.

So yeah, Tom Tancredo...keep advocating to reinstate the literacy tests. I doubt 90% of your tea party audience could pass one. Good call, sir.


NOTE: Thanks to the Rachel Maddow show for covering more of this story. I read about the initial comment, but her roundup coverage was awesome.

Many who know me know that I am very interested in the work and ideas of Joseph Campbell. Yesterday I had some time to kill while waiting for the video podcast to import into iMovie, so I pulled out a DVD of a program from the 1980s about Mr. Campbell. There were a few ideas in it that really struck me again. The first was this:

Joseph commented that he found it quite fascinating that we are told that we are scientifically wired for "every man for himself - save yourself at all costs and above all others." Yet somehow we consistently see people rushing to save others in an instant, with no thought or care for their own safety. This goes against everything we think we know about ourselves and there is a gem of wisdom in that. Agreed.

The other idea of his which I have always loved, and is perhaps his most well-known of all is the idea of following your bliss. By that he means this: If you go into the world and do exactly what the core of your being tells you to do, exactly what you know you are meant to do, doors will open that you would not have thought possible and would not open for anyone else. This idea is certainly key in the arts. I may be going through a few rough years now, but that must mean that there is something awry in my execution of that concept, or at least I must acknowledge that no path is always smooth all the time.

I have certainly seen many doors open in my long career. I may not have even entered them (many I did, of course), but they were there. When you are doing what you are meant to do the world conspires to make it so. I believe this. You must also work QUITE hard to make that happen. You must be the one putting the predominant amount of energy toward it so you can ride on the wind of energy that the universe will provide for you. A half-finished kite will not fly on its own. This is me paraphrasing and adding my own thoughts, of course.

I am always looking inward and outward at my life and career and wondering what I could change. While I may not have loved the last 5 years the most, I believe they were necessary for my well-being and for my LIFE. Career is not everything and that is a lesson to learn as well when you're someone like me.

Anyhow, these thoughts are on my mind today. Thanks, Joseph, for giving me something constructive to do with some down time...

I think the person who takes a job in order to live - that is to say, for the money - has turned himself into a slave.
Joseph Campbell

Before I get into the new B-side collection a little bit, I must say that I am already ruing the day I titled it what I did. It is called Artifacts: Memories and Photographs B-sides Volume Two. Not only is that a long-ass title (of course I'll just call it Artifacts as I'm sure you all will too), but I have a terrible time typing it. I always have a problem typing photogrpahs (see?) and artifacts is no picnic either. LOL

SO...does anyone remember last year when I was obsessed with the acoustic guitar for a minute? Well I recorded 12 songs in a very short time-span, ironically right before I recorded Messages Sending. Basically it was a very prolific time, more-so than normal even. At the time I thought I was writing a new record and not thinking Memories and Photographs at all. Eventually Messages Sending did come flying at me and I kind of forgot about the acoustic-inspired stuff I had been doing as I got really into the orchestral stuff. Time passed and these 12 songs were still sitting around with no home. I didn't feel like I wanted them to be the next album for some weird reason (the next album is WAY different from them). I don't know why. It just wants to be its own little thing and live in its own little world and that's OK.

When I came back to them last week I realized that they really do fit in with the Memories and Photographs project quite well, as a side project almost. Think of it as a double-EP or something. I don't know. For the most part they are more "folky" than I have been in a while. I was on a big Patty Griffin, Greg Laswell, William Fitzsimmons, Rosi Golan kick at the time so I was feeling the guitar. In fact only ONE song on the whole thing doesn't have acoustic guitar in it and most of them were written on the guitar, not the piano.

Anyhow, you can hear them in the player below and click Download to purchase it as well. I know they are streaming there, but if you like them and can afford it I am imploring you to purchase the collection and help me to survive and therefore make more music for you! Everybody wins.

I get asked about this cover ALL THE TIME so I recorded it for YouTube. Instead of feeling like a live performance per se, it is more of a video recording of the new studio version of this song. It doesn't seem like there's a difference, but there was to me. It was less about the camera and more about the recording if that makes any sense. Anyway, the MP3 of the new studio recording of this will be available to those on my mailing list later today.

I relate to this result quite well, actually.

Your result for The "What Type of Intellectual are You?" Test...

The Philosopher

You scored 17% empirical, 24% public, and 52% teaching-oriented

Take The "What Type of Intellectual are You?" Test at OkCupid

While I am really enjoying this new "video" presence I am creating online, I fear for a few things. It takes so many hours of work to produce these clips, and the video podcast is a real doozy. I am doing this video stuff knowing that the world has gotten more and more visual. I think adding more of a video presence will help me to gain fans and bolster lagging sales. I know people are very visual. I had to change my whole website over a year ago to incorporate graphic links for almost everything because I was tired of getting asked questions whose answers were there all along but you know, in TEXT. Now I notice that even when people want to post a song for others to listen to on LJ or Facebook, they most often post a YouTube video.

Anyway, I'm really hoping the current video experiment yields good results, but I am worried about how I am going to add the extra work into my life. I know I CAN do it, but I don't want my music recording to suffer for it. I have plenty of recordings done, god knows, but writing and recording is something that is very important not only to my career but to my happiness. If I find the burden of all this to be too much I will scale it down, but for now I will move ahead with it.

I have also been frustrated a bit because I am using programs I don't know well yet. I have become such a well-oiled machine with everything else that learning something new can really get my blood boiling and test my patience.

I do feel it will all be worth it, though. I could have worse problems, right?

In addition to the new video podcasts I am also, for a limited time, recording 2 videos for YouTube each week. Every Monday will be an original song and every Friday will be a cover song, ALL by request. You can leave a comment here to reuqest a song. head over to my Facebook page or email me at podcasts@caseystratton.com. If you are on my mailing list, you will receive a link to download an mp3 of the Friday Cover each week. Here are the last 2 vids. After the earthquake in Haiti I combed through the list of cover requests I had gotten. Sarah McLachlan's World on Fire stood out as a good song for the time.

I have yet to blog about the 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday afternoon.  What a terrible tragedy.  Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.  80% of its citizens are below the poverty line.  We are linked to them in the US as far as history goes, as it was the uprising of their slaves against the French, and their resulting victory, that caused France to decide they were over-extended in the New World and enter into the Louisiana Purchase with us for $15,000,000.  That purchase DOUBLED the size of the US at the time and still accounts for 13 states.  Believe it or not, Haitians were still forced to pay restitution to the French for money lost when they lost their slaves (WTF, right?).  Not dissing the French BTW.  I AM part French and that was a long time ago.  None of us were here for that shiz.

Anyhow, my heart goes out to those living and those who have lost their lives.  I am reminded of hurricane Katrina in the US, speaking of Louisiana.  This brings me to an interesting point.  I have seen a few people posting that they feel it is wrong for us to be sending aid to Haiti when we have such poverty and such in the US.  Well YES we do, but if we deny aid to anyone else in the world until we clean up our own messes I think the world will be waiting quite some time.  A natural disaster, especially in an already impoverished country reminds me that we share the Earth.  Boundaries and borders are merely arbitrary lines that humans have imagined to divide property.  We are all, on a root level, children clinging to our toys.  THIS is mine, THIS is yours.  The end.  Humanity is the thread that binds me to my fellow man, not citizenship.  How anyone could advocate letting others suffer is beyond my comprehension.  Being a bleeding heart liberal and all...

stolen from e_ticket:

An awesome summation of the need for hope and optimism in the creative process, shamelessly stolen from Kevin Smith's Twitter. A fan asked him, "Dont you always think the next film's gonna be the big one?" His response:
"That's the director's job: to believe in their dopey vision-quest so much that it fuels not just him/her, but the entire cast & crew as well. For months. As the person everyone's looking to for answers, you've GOTTA believe. Anyone can be negative, because bitching takes no discernible talent and costs nothing. And sure: every once in awhile, you die in despair a bit, brokenhearted that your ideas didn't reach more people. But until then? You have hope that the next flick WILL reach a larger audience. You're living in hope. Living ON hope. And hope is life's sweet elixir, touching not just human beings, but every thinking organism on the planet. Living in a constant state/haze of hope = smoking God's own strain of Kush."

If you'd lke to add the video podcast blog to your LJ friends list simply go here:

http://syndicated.livejournal.com/caseyvidpodcast/

My new Video Podcast is now available here or you can subscribe to it on iTunes here. You can also watch just the live performance on YouTube which I will embed below.

Could someone with a paid account please add the RSS feed to LJ? Here's the address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CaseyStrattonVideo THANKS!

Gay marriage/Gay Rights/DADT - I just don't get it.  I also DO NOT validate the LOLeviticus translation and interpretation as a justification for HATE and intolerance.  Major deal-breaker right there.

I have been watching True Blood over the past week because I am submitting some songs to the Music Supervisor for that show.  I love the show quite a bit, should have known I would since Six Feet Under is my favorite TV show of all time and Alan Ball is the creator of both.  I was only skeptical because I am generally NOT a "vampire theme" person.  Regardless, I really think it's quite good.  My only problem from a professional standpoint is that most of the music they use for cues is very rootsy, Americana kind of stuff.  Not sure they would use anything of mine.  Still, the Music Supervisor works on other shows including House so I am still going to submit some music this week.

Not much else to report.  Haven't written any songs since last Wednesday.  I may give it a shot this evening, but I'm not sure yet.  One more song and I will have one full disc of material done.  I am not sure if I'll do multiple discs again with this one or not, but it's looking like I shall as of now.  Once I get 2 or more discs full of songs, and when the timing feels right, I will then narrow it down to a set of 12...or maybe I'll do a double album???  I don't know.  So far, everything I've done feels like it belongs together and I can't imagine merging a second disc into it and letting some go.  I feel that way every time, though, so only time will tell, as always.  

Over the last 24 hours I keep thinking of 2000.  My life could not have been more different then.  I lived in LA.  I worked in a restaurant downtown.  Henry and June were so young.  Hell I was so young.  23 and thinking I was 40.  Typical.  The internet was still something I only used once a day or so as dialup was slow and my computer was extremely outdated for the time.  I think I had a 400 MB hard drive.  I had no cell phone.  I said I didn't want to become a slave to technology.  I was living with someone at the time and really learning that it just wasn't going to work.  That relationship would become my muse in a way, and maybe that was what it was for.  I learned then that sometimes you can still be in love with someone, but it just won't work.  THAT, to me, is very heartbreaking.  Anyway, feeling nostalgic it seems.

So the other day I updated my complete recordings list and realized I was up to 328 for the last decade.  Like filling a gas tank or something, that just would not do.  I made sure to write 2 more this week to get to an even 330.  330 is a lot of freaking recordings.  I don't understand how I am so prolific and I don't try to.  I am grateful for it for sure.  My TOTAL number since 1995 is 577 recordings.  Wow.  

Speaking of recording, my new record now has 11 finished songs.  It has a life of its own almost more than any record I have ever done.  I almost think of it like it doesn't belong to me or something.  I am very pleased with the way it is coming out.  There has been something even more organic about the process this time.  I have literally just been writing whatever comes up with no filters or sense of "I need a song like XYZ since I haven't written one yet" like I usually do.  Sometimes I go into the process with an idea of what kind of song I am wanting or feel a record needs, but that structure was too rigid for me this time.  I wanted to make something absolutely from inspiration alone.  It is not the most accessible of my records by far, but the overwhelming fan favorites seem to be EPs and B-sides so I think people are really going to like it when it comes out.  

That brings me to my resolution this year.  Last night, as the cocktails flowed, I started talking about the Sony days which happens from time to time when I've been drinking.  Those 3 years were so intense.  I was playing with the big kids and I wasn't afraid.  It was exhilarating.  It felt like I was doing what I was meant to be doing.  As much as I love my work and my records, the last 6 years have NOT felt like what I should be doing, but what I have to do.  Big difference.  I had such an opportunity in front of me then.  I had also attained a goal that I had had since I was a small child, and it was something that most people never attain and something that I was told I could never have.  I was just this kid from Michigan, right?  I ran into the world at 18 and just went full steam ahead AT ALL TIMES.  I didn't know when I signed to Sony that the future BMG merger would ruin everything for me there.  At first I was the big priority at the label and they were telling me to get ready for major success.  I was so excited, but not for the things most people might think.  I dreamed of playing auditoriums with amazing lighting design and a kick-ass band, not of mansions and excess or magazine covers.  

I also got to work with some amazing people during that time.  Even after signing to Sony I was still told not to aim too high, but why the fuck not?  If I had gotten that far I was going to keep going. I reached out to my wish list of people and I got to work with all of them.  I got to see what it was like to make a major label record.  I worked so hard and fought for so much.  Like the string arrangements.  They didn't want me to do them but I fought and fought and I won.  Little victories become important in that world.  As much as it didn't work for me artistically to be in the corporate world, I desperately miss making music with other creative people.  I know all of that can change.  That is my goal for the next decade.  I have GOT to find a way to get back in the game, but in a way that I can stand and without giving up too much.  I have no shame for the fact that the music is mine and no one is entitled to it, as consumers OR as record labels, publishing houses or movie studios.  Whatever percentage of anything that I give out is in exchange for what they are doing for me, not some obligation because I am so lucky to work with them.  That is major bull shit that they shove down artists throats because they know that most of us are insecure and because they all think they are so fucking cool.  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

So yeah, major nostalgia today I guess.  

Here's to 2010 and all it can and will bring if you try hard enough.

My fondest memories of 2009 were the following: 

EDIT:  My favorite memory of 2009 hands down was the weekend I spent at Interlochen for my 15th high school reunion.  Even though none of my SUPER close friends from high school could attend, the people who were there were such a joy to be around.  The bond of going there brings instant closeness and I had so much fun.  It was also very emotional.  Performing there again was so strange and so perfect.  I got all teary about an hour before I went on thinking about how my performances there were what gave me the courage to do what I still do today.

My sister's wedding in which I officiated and had a wonderful evening afterward with so many of my favorite people on Earth. 

The Tori Amos concert in Detroit which was one of the best I have ever seen. 

Getting some potentially good news with some opportunities that came my way.  Nothing has panned out and one fell through, but the feeling was wonderful.  I love feeling I still have a hand in the game.

Writing and recording MANY projects.

The Lowest Points?  I think I will keep them to myself but there were some and this year tested me on many levels.  Some I failed and some I passed.  I do know that going forward I am very conscious of the changes I want to make in my life and I feel confident that I can do it.

Do I wish I could do it all over again?  Probably not. I don't live in the past for the most part.  I like to move forward.  This wasn't the worst year of my life but not the best either.  I am tired of struggling, and may get a day job soon to avoid it.  lol

Last night I saw the movie It's Complicated and loved it.  I was laughing very hard at certain parts.  I highly recommend it.  It is nice to see a movie about people who are over 50 being shown as having fun, being sexual beings, etc.  Meryl Streep was amazing as always.  She could play a gorilla and I'd love it.

Anyway, one of Meryl Streep's lines in the movie made me think of something I've been turning over in my brain over the last few weeks.  She said something like this:  "I wanted to step outside my comfort zone, which if you're really honest with yourself isn't very comforting."  With each record I make, I try to make an overt choice to step outside my comfort zone.  In the case of this new one, that has become tantamount to the process, the most important thing.  I have been really trying to go with my instincts and not worry about how produced or slick it is, or worry about using drums or adding a lot of elements.  Some songs still have a lot going on, but some are much simpler.  I have found that I am using the same approach that I did in the early days when things were very different.  Back then I didn't know when, if ever, anything would be released so I recorded EXACTLY what I was feeling with wild abandon.  As the years progress and things change, knowing that what you are doing will be going out to the public when you choose to release it gets inside your brain, and I think you'd be a fool not to acknowledge that.

Back to the comfort zone thing:  I have always felt a very strong need to go further than I'm comfortable going with my artistic work.  I think that is the only way to truly grow and get better at anything in life.  Resting with what's easy or comfortable, while sometimes fine, cannot, for me, become the M.O. of the entire process or I just know I'll look at the work and be disappointed.  That is where the "you realize it's not so comforting" part comes in, and I think that's why the line in the film stood out to me.  Staying in my comfort zone, while being easy, would ultimately lead to boredom, stagnation, but most importantly anxiety.  

I'm not saying that everything I do has to be some groundbreaking, experimental thing.  Sometimes I push the envelope in very small ways.

This leads me to something else I have been thinking about and discussing recently.  I think it's an interesting paradox that the better your music sounds, the more people think it was easy.  If you hear someone on MySpace or wherever and they sound like they are struggling you KNOW it was hard, but when it sounds good people too often think it wasn't difficult.  I wear so many hats, and all were learned over many, many years. 

I start as the songwriter.  Writing a good song is not as easy as one might think.  It's a balancing act at all times and it never gets any easier.  It is easier for me than it is for many, and I know that, but I still have to be quite focused and not let the thing unravel in my head or hands.  For me music comes first, then lyrics.  Lyrics are where you can really get into trouble.  How many lyrics are just awful?  Too many.  Crafting a good lyric that has meaning and poignant, a-ha moments is something that takes time to get good at.

So the song is written, and in my case it is time for the producer to step in.  What does this song want?  What kinds of sounds would suit it?  When you start with a blank session it can feel daunting.  Piece by piece, sound by sound, I add things and take things away, carefully shaping a sonic landscape for the vocals to exist in.  I am the performer and the producer all at once.  I must provide solid musical performances for the vision for the song that is in my head.  I have to be objective enough to know when something is not good enough, but judicious enough that I don't spend 3 months on one song and never finish it because it is not perfect.  You have to know how to be hard on yourself without being too hard on yourself, if that makes sense. 

Vocal time:  The same rules apply.  The composer, the producer and the performer all have to do their separate jobs.  I must sing well, being careful to add emphasis where needed, phrase lines in a way that serves the material, etc.  Background vocals are something I'm known for and those take a lot of time as well.  Thinking up the complex lines and parts and putting them all together is one of my favorite puzzles, but it can be another daunting task and not one that I just assume, in arrogance, will be good just because I have had success with it before.  

Once the vocals are in place the engineer and producer hats are on.  I have to be careful since I performed all the elements, including vocals, myself that I don't get one particular thing stuck in my head and fixate because that will ruin a mix.  Mixing is when objectivity is most important.  It is also where you have to see where the strengths and weaknesses are and add a nice sheen to things to cover its blemishes.  This is where they get their makeup on, if you will.  

Anyway, that's just a glossing over of what is involved, but it is frightening, exciting, dangerous and the BEST thing all at once.  

I feel very arrogant or ego maniacal to be writing this post, but these things were on my mind and since I'm a musician who performs in public I thought maybe people might find it interesting.  Everyone's process and circumstances are different.  This is just more insight into mine. 

I would have thought this number would be higher, honestly:

40% Geek

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Site

It is definitely Winter now, even if it isn't technically Winter yet. As of about a week and a half ago, we are covered in a blanket of snow here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is snowing again today. For some reason this year I feel like I can't take it. I already want it to be over and find myself longing for Spring. I'll survive, as always, but as I get older I hate it more and more. I shall curse my family for settling down in this Northern land!

So I had to put the writing and recording of my next record on hold for a while. I had the New York trip and then I began recording A Winter Moon, so the new record had to wait. Now that I have nothing on the horizon for a while, I feel I am ready to attack it again. This record is shaping up quite differently than I expected, and I have to say I am enjoying the surprise. It has a definite personality of its own. I don't often feel I am doing much more than guiding an airplane in when I write music, and with this record I feel even less control over the output. I find that strangely exciting. One, I am so prolific (thank the universe) that I can afford some missteps, and two, it is nice to feel a little bit out of control with it. As time marches on and I look at the body of work I have completed over the last 15 years, I sometimes worry about my creativity drying up. What precedes you can sometimes feel like a very large wave getting ready to break, and you are always hoping your surfing skills are going to stay in top form. It is somewhat of a silly paranoia, but it doesn't make it any less real, and I can't think of many artists I know or have studied that didn't feel that way at one point or another. Anyhow, this new material feels like a bit of fresh air to me and I am all about that.

I had a great time in Frankenmuth and Saginaw over the weekend. I love the now annual holiday show, and spending time with family and friends afterward. I always enjoy spending quality time with those I love, but during the holidays it is even better. To me, that is what the holidays are about. Coming together and having a good time, with good food and good conversation. Thanks to tinawiesen for opening her home to us once again. Everything was wonderful!

So that's all for now. Hope everyone is well.

The annual holiday show in Frankenmuth went very well on Saturday night. The eternal town of Christmas is a perfect place to get in the spirit. Horse-drawn carriages went up and down the streets as I played a set of traditional xmas songs as well as originals, mostly winter-themed. Thanks to all who attended!

Casey Stratton
Harvest Coffeehouse
Frankenmuth, MI

1. Coventry Carol
2. Away in a Manger
3. Remember Me
4. Say Hello To Winter
5. In the Bleak Midwinter
6. The Winter's Chill
7. I Won't Let Go Just Yet
8. Late December
9. New Year
10, Joy to the World
11. Shir Amami
12. The Holly and the Ivy
13. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
14. The Maiden, The Mother and The Crone
15. Highway
16. Silent Night