Are Mormons responsible for saving Morrissey’s solo career? Kind of. Maybe. One might be.
Thank you for blessing me with a mind to rhyme and two hype feet
Fine, he considers himself religious but non-denominational (no longer LDS). And fine, this is a cover. And fine, he’s an actor*. But it makes the cut because A. This was a performance at a Mormon ward talent show. B. Gosling’s got the moves C. Gosling’s got the haircut. D. Gosling’s got the pants. Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em.
*He actually does have a band but it’s indulgent celebrity rock band stuff so it can safely be ignored.
It’s not easy being Cove Reber.
In 2004, a 19-year-old Mormon singer from Vista, California, sent in an acoustic demo tape to a band that was, in his mind, already legendary. Saosin had only released one EP, Translating the Name, but it became so popular through touring and careful use of online social networking that the EP sold tens of thousands of copies. Not long into 2004, however, vocalist Anthony Green, who was feeling homesick and dissatisfied with the direction of the band, left to form Circa Survive, and a nation-wide audition then took place to find a new singer.
When Beau Burchell, guitarist of Saosin, first heard Cove Reber’s audition tape, he thought Anthony was playing a trick on them, because Cove’s vocals sounded so much like Anthony’s. It was no joke. Cove, though young, already had experience playing in local bands Mormon in the Middle and Stamp Out Detroit, and his vocal similarity to the Saosin’s founding singer got him hired. For Cove, it was a dream come true to be hired by a band he looked up to so much. Fan reaction was mixed. Continue Reading →
…but are they active?
Aaron Eckhart
I had a conversation with Ian Fowles last week about “celebrity status” in Mormonism. Mormons tend to have a fascination with other Mormons who achieve greatness in art, music, film, etc. Evidence for this would be the Famous Mormons website, of course Linescratchers, and a few other sites online with lists of well-known Mormon celebrities. Even more infamous is our tendency of “wishful thinking” rumors. These are rumors that a certain celebrity is Mormon, even when they’re not and have never been (Elvis, Steve Martin, Alice Cooper, etc.), based on an exaggerated rumor, or some sort of slight interaction with the church at some point.
Why do we care so much? Actually, that’s a pretty good question. We Mormons spent the first half of our history as a very peculiar people, living in the mountains with our polygamous wives, stealing passers-by and forcing them to swear oaths of loyalty to Brigham Young in the Salt Lake Temple. Okay, well, that’s perhaps it wasn’t that, but it’s no lie that we weren’t exactly “assimilated” into American culture. Peculiarly, sometime in the last 100 years, we’ve reversed this image. Now, we’re the clean-cut, conservative representatives of traditional (some would now even say outmoded) American family values. Explaining how we managed such a reversal is beyond my abilities and the scope of this article, but suffice it to say that we are uniquely concerned with how we blend in to American society. So perhaps we like hearing about Mormon celebrities because it means we’ve “arrived” on the American scene. Not only does it mean we’ve successfully blended into American culture, it also means we have talented members of the church out there being recognized for their skills. Continue Reading →
David Archuleta – The Other Side of Down review
The Other Side of Down is the latest offering from LDS singer and American Idol alumni, David Archuleta. Being LDS, a musician, engineer, and producer may qualify me to critique this album, but my greatest qualification might actually be that I am the father of 3 young girls who fit a significant demographic portion of his fan base. Also, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to hear David sing live, in a very “up close and personal”, accapella performance – so I’ve seen his talent in its most raw and simple form, and was eager to compare that to the production of his newest album.
David’s producers have tried to squeeze him into a radio-friendly, tween-compatible, pop format. For the most part, they’ve succeeded, but stylistically this album feels just a bit “forced” at times. Sure, it fits the format in many ways – catchy melodies, electronic beats, loads of synth sounds, lots of layering and production quality, and of course the terribly over-used “telephone” sounding effect on vocal delays and overdubs. But there are noticable differences between this album and many of the cookie-cutter masses. Continue Reading →
Elliott Smith and the Community of Christ
My first exposure to Elliott Smith was on my mission, from an extremely music-savvy companion who just happened to have a copy of From a Basement on the Hill (I’ll refrain from relating his name, just in case our mission president is reading). I loved the album, but when I got home and read more about Elliott Smith, his story was just too painful for me to get into much of his other work, especially when combined with my inevitable post-mission blues.
Over the weekend, though, I caught a sentence on his Wikipedia page that piqued my interest, and I went on to read a section from his biography. In Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing by Benjamin Nugent, the author mentions that Elliott Smith spent a number of years in his early childhood in the RLDS church (now the Community of Christ). His mother, Bunny, married his stepfather, Charles Welch, in 1973, when Elliott (then Steven) was almost four years old, and the wedding was officiated by an elder of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is unclear how long he and his family attended that church, but by middle school he was instead attending a Methodist church. Quite a bit of the angst in Smith’s upbringing came from a troubled relationship with his stepfather Charles, and later in his life, Smith came to believe that Charles had sexually abused him at some point. Continue Reading →
David Archuleta memoir “Chords of Strength” available June 1st
I recently read an article at the Chicago Tribune about the long-term success (or lack thereof) of singers from American Idol. It’s a bizarre system to begin with, to be sure - American Idol is in its 9th season, and, as the article points out, it has now churned out 80 would-be stars since it began. Add my skepticism about the whole venture to the pile, considering that the whole Idol concept is based around contestants singing truncated versions of songs they didn’t write, and being judged by critic-celebrities and text messages from viewers at home. Not winning first place seems almost preferable, as the fine print of the recording contract one “wins” at the end of the season is actually pretty weak, and gives the artists stiflingly little creative leeway. Then, these artists are all pushed out into a market that is decreasingly able to support big stars.
Gee, when I put it like that, one might wonder how anyone who graduates from that system could get anywhere at all. However, there have been a couple notable exceptions, one being baby-faced David Archuleta, a Latter-day Saint from Sandy, and later Murray, Utah. David has actually sustained a relatively substantial fan base over the last few years, though I think his greatest achievement is undoubtedly his David Archuleta Vietnam fan blog, run by the downright enthusiastic Vietnamese girls Huong, Dung, and (other) Huong. Continue Reading →