Progressive Wednesday

The new pornography, you say? I’m game.

Let’s take a flashback to June 1, 1986, when everyone’s not-so-favorite, disgraced ex-televangelist (or should we say ex, ex, ex), Jimmy Swaggart, declared, sweat dripping off his brow, his fist pounding imaginary devils in the air, that rock and roll was “the new pornography.”

Little did he know, that in a backwards way, he was right.

One of our favorite bands, and maybe the one that most captures what we think is the contemporary spirit of rock, took their name from the Reverend. Behold, The New Pornographers:

This is a music video for “Letter from an Occupant” from their 2000 release, Mass Romantic. So why this song? Well, besides having the classic, poppy riffs I’ve come to love from TNP, it also prominently features the zealous-meets-angelic pipes of Neko Case. Case is well-known for her own solo work, most recently the highly regarded (and rightfully so) Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. But I wouldn’t care if her album was named 3.14 or &^&^& or Little Miss Potato Head: her voice cuts through speakers and cuts through air and, as science will confirm lest you think I’m histrionic, alters the rhythms of my blood. And this happens best when she’s belting it out for The New Pornographers. If you’re new to TNP, I’d recommend taking a gander at Twin Cinema, their newest release on Matador Records, an independent label.

And how is this music progressive? It’s beautiful rock recorded and presented in the face of the repressives. Rock’s rebellion didn’t die off with MTV, Wham, Parental Advisory stickers, and suburban tongue piercings, daddy-o. It’s alive and living (though apparently in Canada).

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Carey Mack

Carey Gardiner Mack was born and raised in Watertown, Wisconsin, and she has lived her entire life within fifteen miles of I-94. These days she's an Ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The truest thing she can say about her experience as a seminary student comes from James Carroll's award-winning book, An American Requiem: “It was an incubator of my own personal and unwanted revolution.– As with most personal and unwanted revolutions, Carey's taught her a lot. We're talking more than Marcia, Greg, Jan, Peter, Cindy and Bobby on each episode of The Brady Bunch.

Carey draws her spirituality from early 20^th century Protestant work, Buddhism, and the twelve steps, closely aligning with Thomas Aquinas's belief system: all life has a purpose, meeting this purpose allows one to be happy, happiness is to be found in the love of God (or one's Higher Power). The difference between right and wrong, she believes, can be appreciated using reason and reflection. She also believes that human nature is good because God made it good.

She currently lives in Dearborn, Michigan, where she religiously (no pun intended) roots for the St. Louis Cardinals.