quotes

But cities were not simply condemned because they were big or ill tuned for the industrial expansion that had seized them. What was wonderful and exciting about them–the spontaneity, the togetherness of community, the creativity that comes from getting along and not getting along, the endless characters populating the streets, the chaos–never found a natural place in the American soul. The frontier spirit that was so intrinsic to the psyche of the country, the creed of individualism and ruggedness and privacy, of staking out your own piece of land and building your own house, hardly lent itself to the culture and spirit of the city.

— Buzz Bissinger, A Prayer for the City
(see the other books I’m reading here)

The Mockingbird blog did a great interview with Derek Webb that was published today. It seems like every interview he’s been doing has consisted of the same content, but this seems to have a few original questions in it. It’s really enjoyable.

This was my favorite quote from the whole thing. It’s a very biblical view of “Christian art” and it resonates well with my recent article on the Beauty of Art, so I thought I’d share it with all of you.

As an artist, my job is to look at the world and tell you what I see. Every artist, regardless of their beliefs, has some way that they look at the world that helps them make sense of what they see. A grid through which they look at the world which makes order out of it. For me that’s following Jesus, for other artists it’s other things. It could be anything, but every artist has that grid. Most Christian art unfortunately is more focused on making art/writing songs about the grid itself. As opposed to writing songs about what you see when you look through the grid. I’m more interested in looking through the grid and telling you what I see.

In other art news, I can stop listening to the new Pete Yorn/Scarlet Johanssen duet/compilation album Break Up. It’s pretty phenomenal. Expect a review here in the coming days. You can listen to the entire thing online here. I know Scarlet’s received a lot of crap about her voice and singing ability, especially after her solo album of Tom Waits covers called Anywhere I Lay My Head. Personally, I love her voice. I think it’s amazing, refreshing, and seductive. Here, try this random single she did called “Last goodbye” (I have no idea where it’s originally from. Sorry.):