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Tyler Glenn Has a New Song: Trash

April 29, 2016 by deirdre Leave a Comment

Tyler Glenn of Neon Trees © kobbydagan, used under license

Tyler Glenn of Neon Trees performs on stage at the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival Village on September 20 in Las Vegas. Photo © 2014 by kobbydagan and used under license.


Tyler Glenn just released a new song and video, “Trash.” Tyler’s a gay Mormon who had a faith crisis after the LGBT policy change last November. One of the things that most fascinates me is why people leave faiths, and the process people go through, as it’s usually a difficult change that upends a significant part of their lives.
An excerpt from the Rolling Stone piece by Brittany Spanos about his new song and recent life:

At the time Glenn came out in 2014, he was still a believer in the Mormon church, having been raised in the faith, gone on a mission and continued to be a member of the community in Salt Lake City, where he remains. “I always tried to make being gay and being Mormon work,” he says. Glenn had hoped he’d become an ambassador to his church on behalf of more progressive views, until the church confirmed that they would excommunicate members who participated in same-sex relationships. Now, he sees himself as a different kind of ambassador.
“The big problem here is that they claim it’s the only truth,” he says. “There have been over 40 suicides within the church as a result of this policy. These aren’t just grown men and women. Many are children. It’s backwards. It’s not of God. I needed to make this statement to artfully show the pain of a faith crisis and the darkness of doubt, but also that there’s ways to reclaim what is yours.”

One commenter said, “I haven’t witnessed this much righteous anger and passion in a song since Hozier’s ‘Take Me To Church.’”
Part of Tyler’s situation is that several months ago, a fifth definition of apostasy was added to the LDS Handbook of Instructions, section 6.7.3. Note that it’s numbered item 4 even though it was added fifth:
LDS apostasy definitions

…[A]postasy refers to members who:
[…]
4) Are in a same-gender marriage.
[…]
Priesthood leaders must take disciplinary action against apostates to protect Church members. […]

Tyler hasn’t resigned, and he’s likely to be excommunicated for a combination of his song and his recent Mormon Stories podcast (linked below). As an example of recent LDS church actions, Bruce Holt was reportedly excommunicated for this single FB post. (more context here)
Tyler said in this interview:

“No, and I won’t resign,” he said. “I think it’s important if they decide to excommunicate me, that they do it in the proper way… I want to see change. I don’t hate the Mormon church, I’m really upset with the system and the idea that they claim it’s from God.”

Trash Video

Video’s here in the Rolling Stone Interview.
For those of you who are LDS and who may be offended by the above video, you may also watch David A. Bednar’s “Choose Not To Be Offended talk on LDS.org.

Purchase/Streaming Links

  • iTunes
  • Amazon
  • Google Play
  • Spotify

Tyler Glenn’s Mormon Stories Podcast Episodes

John Dehlin, founder of the Mormon Stories podcast, did a several hour episode (in three parts) with Tyler Glenn recently.
It’s one of the few episodes I’ve listened to in full, and it really talks about what it’s like to be fully in and then have the door slammed in your face like Tyler did last November.

My Interest in Tyler’s Story

As a Californian, one of the things that’s angered me since 2008 is the participation from Mormons in Utah (and the LDS church itself) in passing Prop 8. Back then, Rick wrote an essay on why—even if you agreed that gays shouldn’t marry—it was so difficult to clearly define “male” and “female.” Sex biology is far more complex than most people realize.
Those of us who are LGBT/QUILTBAG or allies are quite horrified about some of the stories coming out about LGBT Mormons and the struggles they face. Earlier this month, 22-year-old Lincoln Parkin took his life. I was heartened to discover people like Virginia, a commenter on the above story:

We are mormons too and I have two gay children who are one of the most wonderful people I know. I thank God everyday for giving them to me. We are 100% behind them for support and love. They are God’s children too. I hope that people can give unconditional love like Jesus did.

If you know LGBT Mormons, or Mormons who have LGBT family, it’s a good time to help ensure that those in faith crises know there are people there who care. People growing up, especially in the Morridor where Mormons are a high percentage of the population and therefore, given LDS values about LGBT people, may not have adequate support systems in place.

Other LGBT Mormon Stories Episodes

Other Mormon Stories podcast episodes featuring other LGBT Mormons and their stories. Note: some of these have some truly dark times in them, and several discuss suicide ideation or attempts.)

  • Alex Cooper talks about surviving reparative therapy.
  • Elizabeth Grimshaw talks about the threat of excommunication for being married to her wife.
  • Two musicians, Mindy Gledhill discusses learning to become an LGBT ally while Dustin Gledhill discusses his own struggles with his orientation and his dark times. In particular, I love their new pop collaboration video in the post.
  • Michael Adam Ferguson and J Seth Anderson were Utah’s first legally married in Utah same-sex couple.
  • Taylor and Sean Knuth-Bishop discuss their excommunication for being a legally married same-sex couple.
  • Clark Johnsen talks about coming out as a Mormon…and then going on to join the Book of Mormon cast in its initial Broadway run. Very funny episode. One of the things he talks about is how he did try a relationship with a woman and tried to make it work despite being gay, and how there continued to be a greater and greater disconnect between this woman he cared about as a friend and her expectations about what would happen if they married, and how he couldn’t take that step to being engaged because he felt it was fundamentally unfair for both of them.
  • The Abhau family discusses the struggles within the LDS community of raising a gay teen.
  • John Dehlin’s TEDx talk about being an LGBT ally. This is a fantastic talk.
  • John Hamer discusses leaving the LDS church and discovering the Community of Christ, an early Mormon offshoot that is far more tolerant of LGBT people (and women). CoC follows the traditions of Joseph Smith ||| and rejects Brigham Young. It’s the second largest sect in Mormonism. Dozens more are listed here.
  • More stories linked from here.

There is also the Gay Mormon Stories podcast.

Filed Under: LGBT, Music Tagged With: faith, lgbt, mormon-stories, mormonism, music, podcast, quiltbag, religion

Filk: Sad Puppies Aren't Much Fun

April 6, 2015 by deirdre 12 Comments

Sad Puppies

Sad Puppy • Photo by Amber West


For those who don’t know, a “filk” song is a science fiction/fantasy folk genre, generally adding new lyrics to an existing tune. Though many filk writers also write original tunes, as I pay tribute to in this post.
The rest of this post is written by my husband, Rick Moen.
People who’ve been on SMOFS for a while might remember http://filkerdave.livejournal.com/541186.html. Well, I’ve gone and done the dirty deed a second time.

Sad Puppies Aren’t Much Fun

(With apologies to Ogdel Edsl and fond memories of Dr. Demento.)
Sad puppies
Sad puppies
Sad puppies aren’t much fun.
They all fight for silenced voices,
By crowding out all other choices.
Sad puppies aren’t much fun.
Inclusiveness means broader picks,
Yet Three Body Problem gets a ‘nix’.
Sad puppies aren’t much fun.
Wright’s novellas mustn’t be ignored,
But his rocket points straight at Noah Ward.
Sad puppies aren’t much fun.
Sad puppies
Sad puppies
Sad puppies aren’t much fun.
Sad puppies
Sad puppies
Sad puppies aren’t much fun.
Sad puppies
Sad puppies.

Filed Under: Conventions, Music Tagged With: filk, hugo awards, hugos, music, sad puppies, world science fiction convention, worldcon

On Zayn Malik Leaving One Direction

March 25, 2015 by deirdre 2 Comments

The Road to Hana, site of a recent Zayn Malik / One Direction fangirl moment

The Road to Hana, site of a recent Zayn Malik / One Direction fangirl moment.


I have a little One Direction story. Earlier this month, we rented a car on Maui and drove on the Road to Hana. There are a lot of roadside stands there, people selling home-made goods. We stopped at one where the radio was playing. As I waited for my grown-in-Hawaii coffee, I started singing to “What Makes You Beautiful.”

The woman behind the counter did a doubletake. I’m an unapologetic lover of pop music, and I gauged from her reaction that she’d been made fun of for liking the song. (She was a bit older than the stereotypical 1D fan.) Eventually, she started singing along with me.
Another car pulls up, and a woman older than my mother gets out. The woman behind the counter stops singing again, but then the older woman starts humming along. So the younger one does too.
Three generations of women who just happen to like the song, sharing a moment.
As much as the song is overplayed, I think it’s a really important song. Teenage women (in particular) don’t have a lot of messages that they’re beautiful without makeup, that they’re beautiful for who they are. Instead, they’re assaulted by constant messages that what they look like is never enough, the clothes they have are never enough, their weight is never right, etc.

Zayn Malik’s Departure

Zayn Malik
People burn out from time to time (I burned out as a software engineer twice before leaving in 2013). Zayn’s leaving, and a lot of fans are taking the news badly. I don’t even need to tell you what the #cut4zayn hashtag is for. Or that some people are making fun of them.

Also, let's talk about what laughing at Zayn ACTUALLY is about: laughing at what teen girls like and attach themselves to.

— Katherine Locke (@Bibliogato) March 25, 2015

When you laugh at Zayn, you're telling teen girls their interests have no value. And from that, that *they* have lesser value.

— Katherine Locke (@Bibliogato) March 25, 2015

When you laugh at Zayn, you're telling teen girls that if they are suffering from mental health issues, it's funny, not serious.

— Katherine Locke (@Bibliogato) March 25, 2015

We took those boys when they were teenagers, turned them into sex symbols, tore them away from their families, commercialized them.

— Katherine Locke (@Bibliogato) March 25, 2015

So tell me where we get off saying that a) we're surprised or b) hold no responsibility in respecting the decisions they make as adults?

— Katherine Locke (@Bibliogato) March 25, 2015

Fans of One Direction are ENTIRELY justified in being upset. Be empathetic.

— Katherine Locke (@Bibliogato) March 25, 2015

Zayn Malik is completely justified in leaving to reclaim his life. Be empathetic.

— Katherine Locke (@Bibliogato) March 25, 2015

.@duke_duke_goose @Bibliogato yes. And grown adults treat a young man of color like they own him and he owes them his life. Fuck that shit!

— Jeanne (@fangirlJeanne) March 25, 2015

You lose *nothing* by choosing to let Directioners mourn and leaving a suffering 22yr alone without harassment.

— Katherine Locke (@Bibliogato) March 25, 2015


Preach it, sisters.
All I want to say to the mourning 1D fans: you are beautiful. Don’t forget that.
Also, Zayn may be leaving 1D now, but that’s not necessarily a permanent choice. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that people do come and go, and bands get back together. It’s never guaranteed, of course.
He’s still alive, he’s still young, and there’s still time.

Filed Under: Beauty, Music Tagged With: fandom, music, one-direction

World Music Friday: Ledward Ka'apana

March 6, 2015 by deirdre Leave a Comment

Ledward Ka'apana and his guitar
I’ve decided to turn my love of world music into a regular Friday feature, with Ledward Ka’apana being my first. In general, I’ll be featuring a few videos or songs from each performer, and, for vocals, I’ll emphasize performers who do not sing primarily in English. The other aspect is that this will be popular music in various genres.
I remember back when I worked at Classic Vacations on the Hawai’i desk being thrilled that I finally was able to use my love of Hawai’i in my day job. I went to a local Hawai’ian store, Sun Jose Hawaii (sadly now closed), and went to their music room.

“I learned all my slack key in Kalapana because in Kalapana, we never had any electricity. Yeah, everything was run by kerosene.” (dramatic pause) “First guitar I had was run by kerosene.” —Ledward Ka’apana

Even though most of the wording was in English, and I knew some Hawai’ian, I might as well have stepped into a music shop on another planet. I had no idea who any of these people were, and no idea how to find what I was looking for.
There was an instrumental section, and in that section, there was an album of Slack Key Guitar Masters, offering a smorgasboard of amazing artists. I picked up both volume 1 and 2. Out of all of those songs, I really fell for “Radio Hula” by Ledward Ka’apana. The following is a medley of it with another song (“Yellow Ginger Lei”): [Read more…]

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: music, world-music-friday

I Found the Song!

January 30, 2015 by deirdre Leave a Comment

DJ, photo by Jacob Tyler Dunn

DJ, photo by Jacob Tyler Dunn


Six months ago, I was in Phoenix for Overwerk, and I heard lots of interesting stuff.
The third DJ played something that stuck with me that I kept meaning to find. Rick reminded me of said song tonight when he and I were talking about the great MentalFloss piece about why clocks were set to 10:10 a little while ago, and I said that clocks were set to 10:10 to raise the little clock roof.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: music

A Clean Desktop

December 22, 2014 by deirdre Leave a Comment

Strawberry Field

Desktop Zero. (Have to show off that fabulous Christmas wallpaper!) #GTD #InboxZero pic.twitter.com/3pQPRmBEto

— Colter Reed (@ColterReed) December 22, 2014


So Colter Reed shamed me into cleaning up my own desktop, which had 252 items on it, mostly dragged items or stuff I wanted to upload to my blog (and have done so).
Voila!
Deirdre's Desktop
My desktop background is an Olivier Grunewald photo of the Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which I originally saw on this BigPicture feature from Boston.com. I’m just in awe of these scientists.
The picture up top was one I took of Strawberry Field (yes, of the song fame) in Liverpool in 2011 and altered the color. It was sitting on the desktop, but is no longer.
Also, while I’m giving a shout-out to Colter Reed, his blog has a lot of great articles about productivity and motivation.

Filed Under: Music, Travel Tagged With: beatles, organization, travel

World Music Break: Tarkan

October 13, 2014 by deirdre Leave a Comment

On one of the facebook groups I’m in, someone posted this video the other day:

Kuzu Kuzu song purchase links: (iTunes) (Amazon)
Tarkan’s an extremely popular Turkish singer, sometimes called the Turkish equivalent of Elvis, but perhaps a better description would be the Bad Boy of Turkish Pop.
The above video’s from 2001, but he broke out in Turkey almost ten years earlier. His first breakout video’s generally considered to be 1994’s “Hepsi Senin Mi?” It’s not as strong as his later work, but it was considered daring and rebellious. It’s also catchy as hell. It was later re-reorded and retitled Sikidim with different orchestration.

Hepsi Senin Mi? song purchase links: (iTunes) (Amazon)
Sikidim/Hepsi Senin Mi? song purchase links: (iTunes) (Amazon)
2001 also saw the release of the controversial video for “Hüp” (quote is from Wikipedia):

Another scandal broke out when the video for the single “Hüp” was released. The Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council considered banning the video, directed by Ferzan Özpetek, from television broadcast, as some viewers complained that the scene in which Tarkan kisses actress Sinemis Candemir was too “explicit” and “pornographic”. The case was reported through Europe by the BBC.[31] There was no ban, and fans had their say by voting it the video of the year in 2001 at Kral music station’s video awards.


Hüp song purchase links: (iTunes) (Amazon)
In 2014, Tarkan’s been in two videos with other artists, and I like both of them quite a bit.
Hop De’s a song by İskender Paydaş:

Hop De song purchase links: (iTunes) (Amazon)
Hop De music video purchase link: (iTunes)
And here’s a concert rehearsal video for Hop De, before a concert series in Istanbul:

The other video’s quite different, contrasting the energy of the video with the relatively limited movement of the female singer, Nazan Öncel:

Hadi O Zaman song purchase links: (iTunes) (Amazon)
Hadi O Zaman music video purchase link: (iTunes)
I’ve gotta say, listening to all these with a bum hip is a particular form of torture.

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: music

Delia Derbyshire, Overlooked Musician and Composer

August 21, 2014 by deirdre Leave a Comment

Delia Derbyshire wrote some of, and played all of, one of the most famous—and earliest widely-known—pieces of electronic music ever. Not only that, she did so before the advent of the first commercially-available synthesizer.

(Brian Hodgson composed the tardis sound.)
She was a kid in Coventry during WW2, hearing all the weird and haunting sounds of air raids and all-clear signals.
Decca Records told her that they did not employ women in their recording studios. So she joined the BBC. Delia said, “I was told in no uncertain terms that the BBC does not employ composers.”
Seeing the footage about her contributions to the Doctor Who theme was really the highlight of the Doctor Who Experience. As a Torchwood fan (and not really a Doctor Who fan), I felt left out for the most part.
There’s a great page about the history of the theme song.

On first hearing it Grainer was tickled pink: “Did I really write this?” he asked. “Most of it,” replied Derbyshire.

Yet, even though Grainer wanted Derbyshire to receive credit and a share of the royalties, it didn’t happen that way due to BBC red tape (no doubt assisted by the fact that Delia was female). Thus, she became uncredited and without royalties for something that has been heard by millions of people.
Bitter, she left the industry, became an alcoholic, and later developed breast cancer. Though she did get back into electronic music in the 90s, toward the end of her life, she died of kidney failure in 2001.
I find it curious that the BBC created an exhibit for her in the Doctor Who Experience—but still never managed to correct the credits or royalty situation.
If you’d like to learn more about her, here’s a bunch of YouTube links, but you probably want to start with Sculptress of Sound
Her name was Delia Derbyshire, and she loved listening to thunderstorms.

Filed Under: Music, Sexism Tagged With: fanwriting, music, sexism, television

Mockup: 307 Ale Bottles

July 25, 2014 by deirdre Leave a Comment

I found this beer bottle mockup last night, and thought I’d have fun with it.
Catch is, this particular product would probably be better vended in something stranger—like a Klein bottle. Oh well.
Click for full size:
Bottle-Beer-Mockups
It’s an homage to a Tom Smith song of the same title:

There’s many drinks you’ll drink, me lads, but this one beats them all.
One hundred fifty-three and one-half percent alcohol,
A beer brewed in a tesseract, it’ll shoot you through the roof,
And if you don’t believe me, I’ve got lots and lots of proof.

Graphic Element Credits

Font: Veneer by Yellow Design Studio I love this font, use it all the time.
Logo font: Trend Handmade by LatinoType
(Both of the above via Design Cuts, as usual.)
Beer Mockup: Original Mockups
Logo: 12 Sci-Fi Badges from VoxelFlux

Filed Under: Graphic Design, Music Tagged With: fanart, graphic-design, mockups, music

Support Zoë Keating & Family

May 28, 2014 by deirdre Leave a Comment

Zoë Keating’s husband has had mysterious ailments for several months. As of two weeks ago, that’s no longer mysterious: he has stage 4 lung cancer with mets.

On May 13 an MRI found 20 tumors in my husbands brain. On May 15 he could barely breathe and was in a lot of pain. A CT scan that day revealed he had a softball-sized tumor in his lung, tumors in his other lung, his liver and possibly his bones. On our way home from the imaging center our primary care doc called and told us to turn around and get to the hospital right away. My husband was admitted and they promptly removed more than a pint of fluid from his lungs, which helped him breathe better. We were there for 6 days while they performed a bronchoscopy, did more scans, gave him drugs to stop his brain from swelling and administered emergency chemo.

Anthem Blue Cross has denied coverage.

Hey, @AnthemPR_CA why is the medical reviewer who denied my husband's hospital stay for stage 4 lung cancer an OB-GYN?

— Zoe Keating (@zoecello) May 28, 2014


Zoë’s a pretty amazing cellist. If you’re so inclined, I’m sure buying her music would help her family out right now. If not, spreading the word about her situation, including aiming the Internet Rage Machine at Anthem Blue Cross.
Or, as Zoë asks:

Please, don’t send any condolences. Send strength and love and positive energy, healing vibes, prayers, chants, interpretive dances…all of it.
And since my new album will remain unfinished for a while longer, if you want to help us in ways other than good vibes, you could buy some of my music. Listen to it, give it to a friend and think of us.

Joel Richard tells about seeing her perform.
Wil Wheaton wrote about Anthem’s denial here.

"Coverage denied…doesn't meet criteria for medical necessity". I WOULD CALL SAVING MY HUSBAND'S LIFE A MEDICAL NECESSITY YOU FUCKERS

— Zoe Keating (@zoecello) May 28, 2014


Amen.

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: cancer, medical, music

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