Thursday, March 27, 2008

DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: Does Christian Rock Suck?

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“Does Christian Rock Suck?” — with former rock singer Brian McCarter (yes) vs. Rapture Ready! author Daniel Radosh (no). Michel Evanchik moderates, and Todd Seavey hosts. Wed., April 2, at 8pm.

Just to keep things interesting, you’ll note we have a rocker and God-believer from South Carolina arguing yes, it does suck and arguing no, it does not suck will be self-proclaimed “ignostic,” Jewish, New York humor writer (author of a book on his tour of Christian pop culture, which will be my Book Selection for April Fool’s Day, when it’s released). And expect some singing/playing from McCarter and song samples from Radosh.

Free admission, cash bar. The debates, usually pitting two opponents against each other (in a civil and often humorous fashion), take place on the basement level of Lolita Bar at 266 Broome St. at the corner of Allen St. on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, one block south and three west of the Delancey St. F, J, M, Z subway stop.

I think Radosh will make the case for Christian rock narrowly defined — stuff by self-consciously Christian-first rock bands — but I must say, his case would become “all too easy” (as the Sith Lord once said) if he included Christian-themed songs by mainstream rock bands, like “All You Zombies” by the Hooters, “Sanctify Yourself” by Simple Minds (whose “Don’t You” I just sang in karaoke last week), “I Still Believe” by the Call, or “Gloria” by U2 — which has Latin, no less.

On a related note, here’s video of rock-writer-turned-Christian Dawn Eden giving away a bunch of stuff from the days when she rocked — with atheist cameo by me. And on a non-religious note from the heathen nation of France (a magnet for fabulous babes), here’s Nouvelle Vague doing their “Girl from Ipanema”-style rendition of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”

Weirder still, here’s an amateur montage from Silence of the Lambs accompanied by a great song inspired by it — done in the style of the 60s rock Dawn Eden loves, as it happens — the Greenskeepers’ beautiful and creepy “Lotion.” Gives “eat of my flesh” a whole new meaning.

10 comments:

jenny said...

how about mr. mister’s “kyrie”? it’s quite catchy… (and as a person totally lacking in theism of any flavor, whose only exposure to organized religion comprised of slightly more than a year in a school run by evangelists, it was only with the advent of the interwebs that i learned “kyrie eleison” had any religious significance whatsoever. didn’t make the lyrics any more interesting, though.)

Todd Seavey said...

And a fascinating (to me) crossover case (that you may recall from our WBRU-listening days in Providence) is Sam Phillips (the recent female one, not the old male one), who started out Christian rock, turned alternative rock, and retained hints of her real themes in anti-materialist songs like the lovely (yet ass-kicking and Patti Smith-like) “Holding onto the Earth”:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8CG34gEx8-M

Weirder, though: despite her delicate beauty and lovely voice, she also played a tough, mute assassin in Die Hard 3. I love a weird media resume.

E5 said...

How do you have a post on Christian Rock and not mention Stryper???

Also, doesn’t this violate your month without god – or was that February?

Todd Seavey said...

That was February — but there’s no God regardless of the month. This weekend will wrap up my “Month Without Buckley.”

E5 said...

So Buckley comes back in a week?

cool.

E5

p.s. what about Stryper?

Koli said...

So Buckley comes back in a week?

For that, he would have had to die for everyone else’s sins… smacks of collectivism… not very Buckleyesque.

E5 said...

I see you guys are continently ignoring the yellow-and-black-elephant in the room:

STRYPER!!!!!

Todd Seavey said...

I haven’t written anything about Stryper, but I did mention their evil twin Slayer in this recent entry, if that helps:

http://toddseavey.com/2008/03/12/carneys-vs-chaos/

radosh said...

Not to get technical, but as I’m arguing the negative, I’m not the one who needs to “make the case.”

Anyway, without tipping my hand as to any speculation about tactics, I’ll just say that I do have a response prepared in case anyone plays the Stryper card.

PS: Would a link be too much to ask for, Seavey?

Todd Seavey said...

Ah — your banner for the _Rapture Ready!_ site hadn’t been added to Radosh.net last time I checked, and I thought you might be waiting until the 1st. It’s now happily added above — and Radosh.net to the blogroll in the right margin. May all goodhearted people do likewise with ToddSeavey.com.