Silas House's Blog, page 7

Favorite Movies of 2011

There are lots of films from this year that I haven't seen yet--The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Take Shelter, for two--but I did see quite a few, and here are my picks.
1. The Tree of Life. This is a love it or hate it movie. I loved it. I was sometimes frustrated by Sean Penn stumbling about the city, looking up at the sky for unknown reasons, but everything else in it--even the dinosaur scene!--is perfection. I can't remember the last time I saw anything so profoundly moving and beautiful. I love that it's nonlinear and image-driven and music-driven. What images, and what music. And I think it's incredibly brave to make a film that asks questions about God and grace and nature in a time when so many choose apathy and mindless entertainment over true thought. Favorite moment, among many many such moments: when the mother floats.
2. The Artist. Magical, and the production design is incredible. I love the dog-love-story, especially. And the scene where the actress slips her arm into the jacket of the man she's pining for is maybe my favorite movie moment of the year. And I especially loved the dance scenes. Go in knowing that the melodrama is intentional and you'll love it, too.
3. The Descendants. I'm usually not a huge Clooney fan but I really loved his performance, and especially that of Shailene Woodley, who plays his teenage daughter, giving the most realistic performance I've seen all year. I also loved seeing Hawaii as a place where people live instead of simply being shown the tourist version of it.
4. Beginners. This movie is sad and charming (Melanie Laurent!) and stars some of my favorite actors . The performances of the dog and of Christopher Plummer are worth the price alone. I love the way it looks at the complexities of parenthood and being someone's child.
5. The Rise of the Planet of the Apes. This was the biggest surprise of the year. I went into it for my daughters, thinking it would be a fun escape movie. But I found it to be a deeply moving, intelligent, and profound look at animal--and human--rights. And the special effects are pretty amazing, too.
6. Of Gods and Men. Another movie that not enough people saw is this French film based on the true story of a group of priests who choose to stay in the Algerian village with the community they have come to love despite their knowledge that they will certainly be killed by approaching fundamentalist terrorist. It's a brave movie that looks at what faith is and how fundamentalism distorts--and destroys--true belief. This is a quiet, slow movie that movies like a meditative prayer.
7. The Conspirator. One of the least-seen movies of the year is also one of the best. This fact-based story of Mary Surrat's role in the Lincoln assassination is just as timely now as it was when the real thing happened in 1865. Robert Redford directs and explores the way the government can distort the truth for their own gain and how guilt and innocence are more complex than they might appear. Robin Wright deserves and Oscar for her unflinching and deeply moving portrayal of Surrat.
8. Jane Eyre. I loved every brooding, shadowy, and decidedly British moment of this underrated film featuring incredible cinematography and great performances from Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska.
9. Midnight in Paris. Woody Allen movies are either totally hit or miss for me but this is one of his best.
10. Hugo. Another Paris-set movie, and just as magical as Allen's. I loved the book and thought the movie was a beautiful adaptation.
And, in no random order, other films I loved this year:
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part II concludes my favorite film franchise ever, but my favorites of the lot are The Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows Part I. -Sarah's Key brings new life to a movie we think we've seen before.-The Ides of March. Ryan Gosling is great, and I can't help but love that so much of it is set in Kentucky...could have been a truly great movie if released ten years ago, when it was more timely. Felt very dated.-Crazy, Stupid Love. But why did none of the character react to situations the way people do in real life? That bothered me. But I still loved a lot about it, especially the actors, and the twist at the end.-Contagion looks exploitive and manipulative in the trailer, but is actually moving and terrifying. -Bridesmaids is laugh out loud funny, even if it is sometimes completely infantile and crude (do I need to see a woman defecate in the middle of the street in a wedding dress? No, but I couldn't help but laugh).-Young Adult could have been great, but isn't. Charlize Theron, however, IS.-Rio. My favorite animated feature of the year. Very, very funny and intelligent.-Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud. A little pretentious but still moving and insightful.-And my biggest guilty pleasure of the year: Paranormal Activity 3. I wasn't crazy about the first two. In fact, I thought they were boring and lame. But this one was genuinely scary, inventive, and smart. Don't judge me.

My Favorite Albums of 2011

These are the albums I listened to most, in no real order. These are the records that are good for just about any situation, in particular the situations in which I most love music: while driving, writing, working, or dancing.
Helplessness Blues-Fleet Foxes. The stand-out here is "Bedouin Dress" but every single track is stellar.
Queen of the Minor Key-Eilen Jewell. One of the most underrated artists out there. "Santa Fe" is one of the best songs I've ever heard.
Circuital-My Morning Jacket. A masterpiece. My favorites: "Wonderful (The Way I Feel)", the title track, and "Black Metal." Layered, profound, and beautiful. If I was forced to pick the album of the year, this would be it.
In the Cool of the Day-Daniel Martin Moore. This album is like church in all the best ways. A sort of gospel record without any of the dogma, this is DMM at his smooth-voiced, tight-songwriting, and guitar-picking, piano-playing best.
Inclusions-Ben Sollee. Ben pushes the boundaries and takes his music down bright new avenues. Musically-brilliant and deeply moving. Warning: this video stars the incredibly cute Oliver Sollee.
Bella-Teddy Thompson. I probably listened to this album more than any other this year, especially the second half. That falsetto. Those string arrangements. Sigh.
Metals-Feist. Slower and more thoughtful than her last record, there are no foot-tapping hits here, just tight, perfect pieces of art.
The Cecil Sharp Project. One of my favorite artists, Caroline Herring, is a member of this group and so that's why I first knew about it, and I still think her tracks are the best, but the whole album is a journey into the heart of Appalachia, a man, and the way music shapes us as a people. Genius.
21-Adele. Without a doubt one of the best pop records in recent history. With this album Adele joins the handful of truly great vocalists, and whoever chose the songs should be given a special award for Songcatcher of the Year.
The Dreaming Fields-Matraca Berg. Elegant and elegiac. The title track is nearly equal to a Willa Cather book and in fact the whole album stands like a perfect short novel.
Sing It Loud-k.d. lang. I've always loved k.d lang's voice but only now has she created an entire wonderful album that I love listening to again and again. If you ever get the chance to hear her live, please do. I heard her in Nashville (at the Ryman, no less) this year and it was definitely one of the best concerts ever.
Torches-Foster the People. The best pop album of the year, full of hooks and great beats.
El Camino-The Black Keys. A sticker on the front reads "Play Loud." Great advice. If you can sit through this without dancing a little, then I don't understand you. Also: best video of the year.
The Mirror-Jill Andrews. This album by the former front-woman for The Everybodyfields didn't get the attention it deserved.
Born This Way-Lady Gaga. Okay, maybe the most overexposed record of 2011, but still one of the best. "You and I" and "Edge of Glory" are both perfect pop songs.
Rave On Buddy Holly-Various Artists. Best tribute album I've ever heard.
Little Bird-Kasey Chambers. Kasey never lets me down, and this is one of her best.

Drawing in the Dirt

A couple of years ago, I was asked to give the homily for Evensong at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Paris, Kentucky. I count it among my greatest honors to have been invited by my friend, The Reverend Donavan Cain to give this talk and am glad to share it with you here today.

Drawing In the Dirt

In one of my favorite novels, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, her lead character, Ames, writes the following: "For me writing has always felt like praying…you feel you are with someone."

I have never identified more with a line in a piece of literature, for writing has always been my strongest connection to God. Art has been my salvation. Truly, writing saved me.

I had a profound relationship with God from a very early age. On more than one occasion I was convinced that God was speaking to me. One time I remember very clearly: I was in my back yard, playing on my metal swing-set by myself. I spent lots of time alone, by choice, and not by choice. As I was swinging, a great wind tore down the valley, the kind of wind that turns out the pale side of leaves, that spreads a shiver out over everything in its path. I was certain that this was God passing through. And I heard Him speak to me: "I am here," He said, plain as day, and I knew He was speaking to me, because in that moment, I needed someone there with me. I had felt very alone, but suddenly I felt as I was with someone.

Instead of telling someone this had happened, I went into the house and got out my little black and white composition book where I wrote down everything. I turned to a clean, smooth page and wrote: "March 30, 1981, God spoke to me today. In the wind. He said 'I am here.' I believe him."

Lots of artists I know relate similar experiences. Perhaps some of us are artists because of our strict Christian upbringings, and our wildly creative minds led to these encounters. Perhaps as writers we were doing what writers and artists are supposed to do: hearing like an animal, seeing like a camera, feeling everything intensely. For this is the artists' great responsibility, to listen, see, feel, smell, taste. To experience everything as intensely as possible, and then report our findings.

There are many beautiful instances of art being used in the Bible. Among my favorites are Exodus 15:20 when Miriam sings her song of celebration. The verse goes, "Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing."

2 Samuel 6:14 tells us that David danced before the Lord with all his might.

But my very favorite is in John 8, when Jesus deals with the angry people by drawing in the dirt. Beginning with John 8:3 it goes: "The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4they said to him, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?' 6They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, 'Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.' 8And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10Jesus straightened up and said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' 11She said, 'No one, sir.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.'"

Christ's drawing on the ground is one of the great mysteries of the Bible. Scholars have theorized over it for years: What did he draw on the ground? Or, what did he write on the ground? Why did he do this? What is the symbolism here? I am not sure, of course. But I like to think that Christ wrote in the dirt because the act of writing was a way of prayer for him. What I know for sure is that his drawing in the dirt--whether it was letters or pictures--was an act of art, just like Miriam's song of celebration and David's dancing. Just as the Song of Solomon and the Psalms are among the most amazing works of art to have ever been produced.

Another of my favorite writers, Willa Cather, who wrote masterpieces like My Antonia and O Pioneers! Once said "The prayers of all good people are good." This quote is somewhat of a mystery, too, really. But when thought on, I believe that one thing Cather was saying is that anyone who strives to be good is thereby good. I also believe that one of the many functions of art is to make us better people. The act of making art makes us better people. The act of looking at, reading, hearing, or experiencing art has the potential to make us better.

Art, by illuminating the truth, sheds light on how we can be better people. Nearly everything I ever learned about being a better person, and more specifically a better Christian, I learned from books and poems. I am thinking of novels like The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, which taught me that the true path to God is to recognize Him and honor Him every single day. In that book the character Shug Avery says, "Everything want to be loved. Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets trying to be loved. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see He's always trying to please us back." When you walk through the world every single day noticing everything, you are honoring God. And that is what any artist must do to be a truly good artist. There is no way that an artist can walk through the day without seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting, and experiencing everything they can. It is not a great leap to make this a part of one's religiosity or spirituality.

Often, nowadays, many Christians are taught that our job is to judge and then condemn everyone. Many do not hear the message of compassion. Sometimes I am confused by the modern state of Christianity and religion, period. Sometimes I question it's validity in the modern world. Sometimes I question everything, which is something I was not taught to do in my childhood church. "We are not to question God" was the refrain back then, or, somewhat more eloquently we were reminded that God moved "in mysterious ways" and we were not to wonder too much about His Great Mind.

So imagine the spiritual and religious breakthrough for me when I read the following poem by Mary Oliver, a poem I try to share with as many people as possible because I think it is a lesson in how to be a better person, a lesson in how to not judge, but to have compassion, to spread love instead of hatred, and most of all it is a lesson in loving ourselves, which so many of us have such a hard time doing because we have told that this is a selfish thing to do. This poem is "Wild Geese," by Mary Oliver:

You do not have to be good

You do not have to walk on your knees

For a hundred miles through the desert praying

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

Love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

Are moving across the landscape,

Over the prairies and the deep trees,

The mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue sky

Are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

The world offers itself to your imagination,

Calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting,

Over and over announcing your place

In the family of things.

I believe God shows up there, in the lines of that poem. A thing of so much beauty must surely possess him. What Oliver is saying, I believe, is that we don't have to punish ourselves to be children of God, that in fact, God is love and He has his arms outstretched to all of us, not just a few. These are verses of kindness and compassion, and verses that remind us to look for God's wisdom in every single thing, like the wild geese flying overhead.

Art teaches us to give thanks. Anne Lamott, the author of books like Traveling Mercies, Bird by Bird, and others, says that the two best poems she knows are "Please Please Please" and "Thank you thank you thank you." I've used both of those prayers many, many times, and they are cleansing things.

On this night of evensong, let's give thanks for all the art around us: the wonderful building we are in, the moving songs given by the choir, the perfect scriptures read by our beloved Donavan, the precise gray of the winter's sky, the beauty of every single person gathered herein. With that in mind, a poem of thanks, by a Kentucky poet and a good man, Maurice Manning. His poem, Bucolic Number 76, in which the narrator refers to God as "Boss":

Thank you for the leaf Boss

Thank you for the tree thank

You for the knife-edge wind

Thank you for the breath behind

The wind breath sweeter than

A horse's sweet oat breath

Thank you Boss O thank you

For the yellow-belly sun for

The moon fatter than a tick

Thank you for the season

Thank you for the long-leg

Shadows Boss thank you

For paring down the day

Today for bossing all of it

Away except the fish-eye sky

O except the leaf that leapt

Into my hands thank you for

Two hands to make a cup

To hold the leaf Boss thank you

For the red bug riding on the leaf

That's another poem that taught me the way to serve better, that taught me to give thanks. I will close with my favorite Bible verse, which I am sure many of you know: Galatians 6:9: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." This is what I try to think of every morning when my feet hit the floor. I think about the bright possibility of a new day and how I can be of service. Not because I want to reap that harvest the verse speaks of, but because I think that's why we're here: to be good one another, to help one another, to work hard and laugh much, to love and love and love.

I believe God lives in everything. Not just churches and cathedrals. Not just in trees and leaves of grass and flowers. But even in—especially in—the leads of pencils, the lenses of cameras, the tips of paintbrushes, the pirouette of a ballerina, the rich alto of a singer, the curve of a sculptor's cut, in books and poems and music. He made all of these things and made them a gift to us, so let us all go out into the world with the hope of giving back this gift.

My Favorite Movies of 2010

Besides one, I can't decide the order of my favorites of the year, so here they are in no particular order. There are lots of movies I still want to see from 2010 (especially Toy Story 3, The Social Network, Let Me In, A Piece of Work, and others) that I'm sure will go on this list, but for now, these are my picks...

True Grit-I can decide that this is my favorite of the year. Based on one of my favorite novels, I thought this version perfectly captured the spirit of the book. I loved every single thing about it, but especially the score, the nuanced and subtle performance by Hallie Steinfeld, the cinematography, the trees, Little Blackie, and "the long ride" sequence that goes down in my list of my favorite movie moments. I was moved in every way by the whole movie.

Black Swan-Natalie Portman's performance is incredibly powerful and the look of the film causes me to think of overused adjectives like "beautiful". Since the visuals were so original, I was a little disappointed that the plot was so familiar (an overbearing, protective mother leads to a perfectionist child who teeters on the edge of self-destruction) but I forgave it because it was all so well-paced and never let up. By the end of the movie I realized that I hadn't been aware of anything else except what was on screen. Few movies can hold the attention like that. Plus I loved what all it said about being an artist.

The Kids Are All Right-I love that the movie that says the biggest and best things about family values is about a family that many would deem unconventional. And Annette Bening turns in one of the best performances I've ever witnessed. The scene where she sings Joni Mitchell's "All I Want" is heartbreaking and beautiful and lingers just long enough. Also: perfect ending!

Easy A-My favorite comedy of the year, for sure. It's laugh-out-loud funny, and it's one of the most moral movies I've ever seen, examining how the complexities of morality enlarge our view of God versus the way modern Christianity has simplified religion into something small. Really intelligent. And Emma Stone is awesome.

The Deathly Hallows-I thought this installation of Harry Potter was pretty perfect. My favorite is still The Order of the Phoenix but there was nothing to dislike about this. I especially appreciated the long passages of stillness and silence, two things rarely seen in blockbusters. Best of all about this movie, and the whole Potter franchise, is that nothing is ever dumbed down for the audience, which is also unusual for big hits. Hardly anybody in the movies is endearing as the three leads.

Inception-Everyone is talking about Black Swan being the most visually interesting movie of the year, but actually this one is. I'm still not sure I have it all figured out but what I like most about it is that the filmmakers DO and are not just trying to pull one over on me (unlike Tron...the people who made that can't possibly have any more idea what is happening than I did). I love all the attention to detail, beauty, and precise language. Plus it has Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, AND Tom Hardy.

The Fighter-Some people I know who are great movie buffs were turned off by this one ("I've seen that movie before" was something two trusted friends said to me about it) but I absolutely loved it. I thought that more than anything it was a great sense of place film. I felt like I had been to that neighborhood, and I also felt like that neighborhood was my own. And it turned in some of the best performances of the year with Melissa Leo (everyone should know who she is...she can out-act just about anybody in the world). Plus Amy Adams and Christian Bale are Oscar-worthy, too. I think that instead of being a retread THE FIGHTER is actually a reinvention of the boxing movie genre, telling the story in a completely original and exhilarating way.

The Secret In Their Eyes-My favorite foreign-language film of the year, with a haunting score and a mind-blowing plot.

Helen-the least-seen movie on this list is also one of the year's absolute best. It's a shame it wasn't seen, because it showcases Ashley Judd's best performance ever as a woman desperately trying to claw her way out of depression. The movie is the best exploration of depression I've ever seen. It's very slow but that works in its favor. Judd should have had a shot at an Oscar nomination with this one.

The King's Speech-Beautifully written and acted, with some of my favorite actors. Nothing mind-blowing or absolutely new, but an excellent look at determination, loyalty, and duty.

Winter's Bone-My fellow Kentuckian Jennifer Lawrence gives a star-making performance. I especially loved the way the filmmakers used local people (especially that singing woman). This movie gives dignity to the place and its people, revealing the complexities of rural life while never shying away from the terrible aspects. Another one I loved everything about, and that last line is one to remember.

Top 21 Music of 2010

There is so much good music happening today that I just cannot contain my list to a Top 10 or even a Top 20. I had to go with 21. And I love all of the albums so much that I couldn't rank them. So here they are in no particular order, all of them great pieces of art that gave me hours of listening pleasure. I'm sure I've forgotten some other great records, so feel free to point them out. But these were the ones that stuck with me the most, and I hope that you'll check them out…

A perfect Sunday morning record. Patty Griffin's voice is church.

Come Around Sundown-Kings of Leon

Here's another one I loved to drive to. The songs "Back Down South" and "Mary" are just as good on the five hundredth play as the first, and I ought to know. Both of these are the kinds of songs that go on my permanent "to-write-to" playlist. In fact, "Back Down South" became one of the central songs on the soundtrack to the novel I'm working on, Evona Darling.

Infinite Arms-Band of Horses

This whole album is like a perfect summer evening. Lovely, and I reserve that word for only the loveliest of things.

Flamingo-Brandon Flowers

The songwriting. The music. The vocals. The background vocals. Did I mention the songwriting? "Hard Enough," "Crossfire," "Swallow It,"—hell, practically every song on here—are perfect little gems. "Playing With Fire" goes on my life's soundtrack.

Crows-Allison Moorer

A perfect record. "Easy in the Summertime" is a perfect song (and my favorite song of the year), and it gives me cold chills every time I listen to it. Especially if you know Moorer's family history. This is probably Moorer's best album, and that's saying a lot since she is one of the best singer-songwriters I know of.

Dear Companion-Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore.

Yes, Ben and Daniel are friends of mine. Yes, I co-wrote the liner notes. But there is no denying that this is the most beautiful record of the year (and one tackling an important topic, too, without ever even hinting at becoming a polemic). The songwriting is top-notch, the picking is unparalleled (DMM can play a guitar the way a creek can make its music over old rocks; Ben Sollee is single-handedly revitalizing the cello's place in the people's music), and the album unfolds like a masterful novel.

God Willing and the Creek Don't Rise-Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs

The best album to drive to this year, hands down. "OId Before Your Time" now takes its place as one of my favorite songs, ever. The other cuts are almost as good.

Sigh No More-Mumford and Sons

Released in England last year but in America in 2010, this one feels like the discovery of the year. The banjo never rocked harder, and those harmonies are flat-out great.

Self-Titled-Courtyard Hounds.

Another great driving album. I love Natalie Maines's voice but was sort of glad to just hear the other two Dixie Chicks with their more laid-back groove. This is the perfect record for the lake or the beach. "Ain't No Son" further proves them as the rebels they are.

Talkin to You Talking to Me-The Watson Twins

These Kentucky sisters can out-sing just about anybody, and these songs are arranged with intricate grace. Hands down the most underrated album of the year…everyone should know about the Watson Twins, and this should have been the album that made that happen. I especially love "Harpeth River" and "Modern Man".

Harlem River Blues-Justin Townes Earle

A tour of New York City through alt-country. The title track is perfection. That big chorus behind him especially kills me…they make me picture a big group standing on the banks of the river, as if witnessing a baptism. Lord, it's good.

Lungs-Florence & The Machine

"Dog Days" is a perfect song, and to see her perform it is a thing of rare beauty. The best thing, though, is that this whole CD hangs in there with just as much strength and dark beauty.

A Friend of A Friend-David Rawlings Machine

The other half of Gillian Welch is one of America's best modern songwriters. "I Hear Them All" alone could serve as proof of that, and "Bells of Harlem" spells it out in big neon lights. If you ever get a chance to see Rawlings and Welch live, please do it.

Brothers-The Black Keys

Best album for your next dance party, or your next drive, or your next writing session. This one made the Keys go mainstream (not that there's anything wrong with that, maybe), so I'm hoping that won't destroy their raw, fearless style. If it does at least we have their masterpiece in BROTHERS. This album also delivered the best video of the year, which you can watch here (although you have to watch an ad first, sorry):

Genuine Negro Jig-Caroline Chocolate Drops

The playing, the singing, the songcatching. This is the best old-time record of the year, which is particularly interesting since they make old-time sound completely new.

Have One On Me-Joanna Newsom

It took me awhile to understand the charms of Joanna Newsom but now I am fully under her spell. She rocks the harp the way Mumford & Sons rock the banjo, but with a whisper instead of a scream.

No Better Than This-John Mellencamp

Mellencamp is one of my all-time favorite artists, and no other rocker has better captured the complexity of being rural. This album is totally different from anything he's ever done before (partly because it's (brilliantly) recorded in mono). "Take Time to Dream" is one of his best songs, period.

Dare To be True-Chely Wright

Chely Wright is aggressive, brave, fearless, strong, and completely revealing in this collection of honesty.

Tears, Lies & Alibis-Shelby Lynne

This is Lynne's best album since her big breakthrough (I Am Shelby Lynne). "Like a Fool" perfectly captures the confusion and wonder of falling in love and "Family Tree" is a rare –and welcomed—look at being angry at blood. As always, Lynne does her own thing, and her voice has never sounded better than on this CD.

Self-titled-The Secret Sisters

I have to mention this album, although I only truly love half of it. The original are GREAT, but I could have done without all of the covers. although their version of "I've Got a Feeling" is pretty swell. And for some reason T Bone Burnett, the producer, failed to put their best cover—their version of Cash's "Big River" (with THE Jack White on guitar)—on the album. Love their harmonies and their songwriting.

You Are Not Alone-Mavis Staples

The other album I love to put on during a peaceful Sunday morning. The title track, written by Jeff Tweedy, is especially good, but Staples delivers each song like holy things, which they are.

Interpretations-Bettye LaVette

I fell in love with LaVette when she perform "Love Reign O'er Me" on last year's Kennedy Center Honors of the Who, so I was very glad when a whole album grew out of that performance. These covers of classics from the British songbook do what covers SHOULD do—reinterpret them through the singer's own style instead of simply recycling. LaVette puts her on spin on every track, from the Beatles' under-known "The Word" to Led Zeppelin's "All My Love."

Love and Shame

Lots of people have written to tell me that they are very disappointed in me for making my Facebook status "Silas House has never before been ashamed to be a Kentuckian" last night, when election results were coming in. I meant for my status to be intentionally inflammatory and hyperbolic, to properly express my disbelief that someone I find to be a laughable candidate could be elected. Perhaps it was a poor choice of words because now that I look deep into myself, I realize that I am not ashamed to be a Kentuckian.

But in that moment I was, and I cannot deny that. I am not ashamed to be a Kentuckian, but I am embarrassed (and yes, ashamed) that we put someone like Rand Paul into office. I am embarrassed that my state will be represented by Paul for the next SIX years.

I'm embarrassed because of things he has said like this: "I don't think anyone's going to be missing a hill or two around here," about mountaintop removal, an issue that is absolutely dividing the Appalachian people and leading to widespread suffering on many fronts. That is simplifying an issue that is near and dear to my heart, as people I know and love are suffering because of MTR (because of loss of jobs, pollution, fear, etc.).

I'm embarrassed because of his close-minded views on equality and education and taxation and so many other things.

I'm embarrassed that a man voted to represent my state is so ignorant of the state's rich history that he said in a national magazine he had no idea why Harlan County is so famous (it's because of the bloody coal wars of the 1920s, when Appalachians actually stood up for what they believed in and fought back against big company greed) and went onto say that he did, however, know why Hazard is well-known: because "it's famous for, like, 'The Dukes of Hazzard'." That TV show was set in Georgia, not Kentucky and Hazard, Kentucky is a place of dignity and beauty that shouldn't be reduced by him to being known only because of a television show.

I'm embarrassed because he said this in relation to the Civil Rights Act: "I mean, if you don't trace your ancestry to northern Europe and you're really hungry, if you ask nicely, maybe they'll let you come in. I mean, these are things we can solve without laws and stuff." We actually elected someone who said that. Disgusting. Obviously we couldn't solve those things without laws, which is why the laws were passed.

I could go on. But I don't want to talk about all the reasons I'm embarrassed by Rand Paul.

I want to let you know that I believe a person can sometimes be ashamed or embarrassed of a place and also love it without missing a beat. In fact, sometimes I love the place for the same reasons I get frustrated at it. Love is complex. So is shame.

So perhaps I wrote a facebook status in a moment of emotion. And while I might have a second thought about it, I will not apologize for it. Because in that moment, I felt it, I believed it, and that is my right.

Some of you have written to say that as an artist I should keep my political beliefs to myself, to not mix politics and entertainment, to keep my beliefs mysterious so they don't interfere with my writing. Some of you have written to tell me I should keep my "mouth shut" because it's none of my business (it is), that I should "shut the hell up" (I won't), that I've gotten above my raising (I haven't), and because I'm wrong (that's your opinion).

Just because I write fiction doesn't mean that I don't have a right to my own opinion, to my own truth.

Lots of you have told me that I shouldn't have said I was ashamed because I am a "representative of Kentucky." I am humbled and honored that you think as much, but I also have to point out that a representative of a particular place would be doing that place a disservice by romanticizing it, or by only illuminating what is positive about it. Everywhere I go, I try to tell people that Kentucky is a COMPLEX place. Because people have one of two stereotypes about this place: they think it's either "beautiful and simple" or "stupid and simple." The thing you might notice there is that unequivocally ignorant people think that Kentucky is simple, that things move slowly here, that we are not as complex as other people. The thing I zoom in on is their perception of us being stupid and simple and slow. Because we are not a simple people. We're complex, and that's what I want people to know. Still, it would be wrong of me to go around saying that everything is perfect in Kentucky, because it's not. But I believe that no matter where I go people can feel the love I have for this place and its people in the way I talk about it, the way I write about it.

I have been a published writer for almost ten years. In that time I've been accused of perpetuating stereotypes and breaking stereotypes. All I've ever tried to do is tell the truth about the one little postage-stamp-sized patch of Kentucky land that I know and love, the same piece of land that sometimes perplexes and frustrates me.

Kentucky is beautiful and wonderful because of its diversity and complexity, not in spite of it, and that's why I wish we had a senator who was celebrating that. Which reminds me, someone last night pointed out that almost half of all Kentuckians—about 45%--voted against Paul. Which means that we are not as single-minded as people might think.

That's something to be proud of.

End of Summer Music Playlist

There is so much good music right now that it awaits us like a feast. Here are some of my current favorites. After the jump you'll find embedded videos of some of the songs. Let me know what songs you're listening to these days.

Playlist (in no particular order)

1. Old Before Your Time-Ray LaMontagne
2. Save Some Time To Dream-John Mellencamp
3. Wise Woman-Caroline Herring
4. Evening Kitchen-Band of Horses
5. Golden-My Morning Jacket
6. Sweet Marie-Daniel Martin Moore and Ben Sollee
7....

Recommendations

There are so many mediocre (or downright bad) books, movies, television, and music that it's sometimes hard to remember that there is so much great art being produced these days. So, a list of things I've enjoyed very much recently.
Books
Little Bee by Chris Cleave. This is the most powerful book that I've read in a long while. The plot is so intricate and wonderful that I hate to even describe it for fear of giving something away, so I'll describe it as being about a young Nigerian refugee ...

The Sufferings

President Obama recently toured the Gulf to see firsthand the massive oil spill that has been plaguing us for more than a month now. He also convened a long press conference about the spill. We see coverage of the spill at the top of the news, often accompanied by a live shot of the oil pumping out into the ocean from a camera situated a mile below the surface.

I can't imagine the president doing a flyover of a mountaintop removal site, or holding a press conference ...

Best of 2009: My Picks

Once again, I have two albums as my top album of the year because they are both so masterful that I cannot choose between them: Golden Apples of the Sun by Caroline Herring and Give Up the Ghost by Brandi Carlile. These are the two albums of 2009 that anyone who really loves great music (read: that which is most likely not on contemporary mainstream radio) must buy right now.

Last year Caroline Herring topped my list (in a tie with Ben Sollee's Learning to Bend) with her album Lantana...