Justice Is What Love Looks Like In Public
Tonight I had the privilege to attend a screening of a film due to release later this year called Call+Response. The screening was held in inside the Country Music Hall Of Fame in Downtown Nashville, so obviously it was an honor to be invited. Call+Response deals directly with human trafficking and slave trading including children sex slaves. I had heard quite a bit about the horrific things that go on but this documentary does an unbelievable job of bringing some of these tragedies to light.
CALL+RESPONSE is a first of its kind feature documentary film that reveals the world’s 27 million dirtiest secrets: there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. CALL+RESPONSE goes deep undercover where slavery is thriving from the child brothels of Cambodia to the slave brick kilns of rural India to reveal that in 2007, Slave Traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined.
Director/Producer Justin Dillon hosted the night and said some pretty amazing things. One of the things that he said that really stood out to me was simple and clever, but I thought was brilliant. While talking about the need for us all to get involved in the abolishing of these thing, he said this, “It’s not called Awarenessism it’s called Activism”. Simple and brilliant.
My mind is still processing the images of a seven year old girl being sold to grown men looking for a good time. This is a very real and very local thing. I have questions like, why is it that the government can find out if I download a record illegally, but little girls are bought and sold for sex for less than an iPod? And this is happening right here in America. And it’s happening all over the world. Questions like, how far has the human race fallen when we are treating children with less value than cattle and making billions of dollars in the process? And questions like, where do I even start?
I could go on and on about how the night went, and all the terrible things that I learned, but right now I’d encourage you to go check out the trailer and at the very least find out when this film is released in your city, then bring as many people as you can. There’s all sorts of amazing music mixed into it and some great artists that are also involved. I have already sent an email to the director asking him how I can possibly help with some stuff online. I know that there are plenty of organizations out there dealing with everything from water to kids to shoes, but if this is something that you don’t know about or haven’t heard, it’s time to get educated and get involved.
Has anyone else really studied this? The numbers seem too staggering to ignore.
The Next Step
So here’s the deal. Allow me to do a little explaining. Twice now I have asked on this blog which Christian musicians you, blog readers, would want to see blogging. I have taken the list and figured out who the top nineteen artists are. Originally there were twenty, but I was completely unable to find any information on the twentieth artist online, which only goes to show how bad they need to be blogging. Now I am going to ask you to help me out.
Here’s the part that might make people start to hate me, but it also may just work. SkörInc has launched a new, very basic, website with a very brief explanation of what it is we do. Along with a new site, I have compiled the list of artists along with the general contact info for that artists management and record label. This actually might get me kicked out of Nashville, but below is a list of the top nineteen artists you requested along with their management company’s email address and their record labels email address. Obviously I am not going to give out non-public information so all of these email addresses were found somewhere on the Internet and very public. I have just put them all in one place.
Here’s what I am asking you to do. I know it will take some time today, but I’m asking you that if you requested any of those artists that you kindly and respectfully send them an email requesting that their artists start blogging with SkörInc. Tell them your experience with blogging. Tell them why you want them to blog. You can even tell them I sent you. Most of the “industry” doesn’t know about blogging because they haven’t heard about it. Now is our chance to tell them. Because blogging is such a “grassroots” movement, there is no reason that this community here can’t make a loud noise in the industry. So here it is. Please consider taking the time to do this. And if in a week or so I am moving to Canada you’ll know why.
Jon Foreman
Red Light Management – info@redlightmanagement.com
Credential Recording – info@credentialrecordings.com
David Crowder
SixSteps Records – info@sixstepsrecords.com
268Generation – info@268generation.com
Derek Webb
Dryve Management – dmccollum@dryve.us
INO Records – info@inorecords.com
Evan Wickham
EvanWickham@CalvaryChapel.com
Shawn McDonald
Dryve Management – dmccollum@dryve.us
Sparrow Records – mick@mail.sparrowrecords.com
Sara Groves
INO Records – info@inorecords.com
Leeland
Proper Management – info@propermgmt.com
Provident Label Group – info@providentlabelgroup.com
The Afters
Overflow Inc – http://www.overflowinc.com/
INO Records – info@inorecords.com
TobyMac
True Artist Management – info@trueartist.org
Forefront Records – info@forefrontrecords.com
Dave Barnes
Dryve Management – cdetray@dryve.us
Razor & Tie Publicity – kbrusca@razorandtie.com
Martin Smith – Delirious
Furious Records – info@furiousrecords.co.uk
Brooke Fraser
CRS Management – info@crsmanagement.co.nz
Tenth Avenue North
Reunion Records – info@reunionrecords.com
Showdown Management – info@showdownmgmt.com
Shane & Shane
InPop Records – http://inpop.com/contact.html
Website – barnard@shaneandshane.com or everett@shaneandshane.com
Sanctus Real
Sanctus Manager – sanctusmanager@mac.com
Sparrow Records – mick@mail.sparrowrecords.com
Chris Tomlin
SixSteps Records – info@sixstepsrecords.com
268Generation – info@268generation.com
Casting Crowns
Proper Management – info@propermgmt.com
Provident Label Group – info@providentlabelgroup.com
Todd Agnew
Celerity Entertainment –
hello@celerityent.com
Ardent Records – info@ardentrecords.com
INO Records – info@inorecords.com
Joy Whitlock
Celerity Entertainment –
hello@celerityent.com
Ardent Records - info@ardentrecords.com
INO Records - info@inorecords.com
So there it is. Make sure to be nice and make sure to tell them why you want their artists to blog. Also remember to send them to SkörInc.com to get started. Obviously a lot of these emails are “info@” something, but I promise you if they get enough emails at that address someone will read them. Let’s make some noise today. Ready? Go.
Positive Post Tuesday
It’s Tuesday again and we all know what that means. I’m working on mine and will get it going later today, but I wanted to get this up in the morning so we could all start adding to it.
Most of you know how this works. For those of you that don’t it’s really simple. Write something nice about someone or something on your blog, and then come here and fill in the box. Are we ready?
God’s Pottery
I might be late to talk about this, but Kristin and I watched a previous episode of Last Comic Standing last night online and one of the comedian contestants on the show were these guys called God’s Pottery. They are this over the top Christian singing duo that sings about wholesome things and wear shirts that say stuff like “Virginity Rocks”. Honestly I thought they were pretty funny. A little on the “Dumb And Dumber” side, but really funny about it. And they even have a blog.
Here’s what I am wondering. Do Christians see this as (a.) a mockery of everything “Christian” by making Christians look like idiots, (b.) the first time Christians aren’t trying to copy the culture around them and going so far the other way it turns to comedy, or (c.) a legit ministry by creating something so absurd that they are embraced by a culture looking for something absurd? I honestly go back and forth. They crack me up but are also pretty annoying, and that’s not even throwing the whole “Christian” thing in to it. Either way I think what they have created is something that makes you want to know more. And that’s the brilliant part.
I know there’s a wide range of belief’s represented here on this blog so I’m curious what you guys think?
Who Would It Be? (Again)
Well, I’ve asked before and I am still working on getting a solid list down, but I need to ask again. This here is a pretty solid community of bloggers and I need to know who you want to see blogging. What artists, Christian or otherwise, do you want to see blogging? I have some ideas of how to make this community a pretty powerful voice in the music industry, but I need to make sure I have all of your opinions.
Last time we did this there were some great answers and I think Derek Webb, Crowder and Jon Foreman were at the top of the list. Did that change? Let’s hear it.
Stats Suck Sunday – In Bullet Points
- Waking up before six is not fun. Afternoon coffee and an understanding wife are both awesome things.
- Trust is something I give out too freely, I think.
- I miss Lake Tahoe today. There’s no where like it in Tennessee.
- Mark Hamill is looking more and more like Yoda and less and less like Luke Skywalker.
- Watermelon is not allowed in the livingroom.
- I talked to a guy today that used to go out and put beer bottles in the arms of dead armadillos found on the side of the road. I thought that was weird, but a little awesome.
- Nature walks are awesome with my family, even in crappy Tennessee heat.
- It’s fun to color the “g” off of Randy’s “Angus Steaks” label.
So it’s Sunday. Our stats suck. Let’s hear what you’ve got. Don’t understand? That’s the point. No one does. What randomness are you blogging today?
Addicted To The Dumbest Show On TV
This is most likely one of the crappiest shows on television right now. It’s a bunch of Americans in Tokyo doing a reality show where they are on a Japanese game show. They do stupid stuff and make themselves look like idiots on the game show, then they go off camera from the game show and look like idiots on the regular show. It really is the dumbest thing I have ever seen, and I love it.
Since Kristin and I watch so little TV, when we do we watch things on the computer. Since we have caught up on all the LOST seasons, and Hell’s Kitchen is over, we have run out of things to watch. I talked Kristin in to trying out “I Survived A Japanese Gameshow” since it’s free online and now, like every other reality show thing, I’m hooked. Anyone seen this? It’s really bad… but awesome.
So let’s hear it. What reality show are you embarrassed to say you love. You know you have them. Don’t be shy.
Dark Knights And Clean Apples
So I have been slightly without a computer for a while because I decided to try and clean things up on it. However, doing that simply means taking every little thing off my computer and starting over and then putting everything back on it, which takes forever. So now I think I am almost officially caught up to where I need to be to actually use my computer and have it not take fifteen minutes to do anything.
Thursday night we went to see The Dark Knight. Was it good? Yeah. Was is creepy? Yeah. Was it violent? Yeah. Did Heath Ledger do a great job? Yeah. That’s right, everything you have heard, read about, seen online and cared to listen to is exactly what I would say about the movie. Best movie ever? Not so much. It’s good, but not life changing. Then again, what movie is? I did however get a chance to run into Coury there, who was in fact wearing a shirt and also was kind enough to save us seats. We also ran in to Stephen so it was cool to see him and talk a bit.
So how many of you have seen it? If so, on a scale of one to five what do you give it? I’m thinking a 4, but that might be generous.
Fair Trade And My Wife
Today is Kristin’s day to blog for the 40 Day Fast. Today she has blogged about Fair Trade, and the amazing things that simply buying Fair Trade products is doing. There’s also a video on the post that is full of information on what Fair Trade is doing.
One of the many amazing things about Kristin is that she really digs in when she is doing something. She never does anything half-way. Recently I have noticed things around the house with the Fair Trade Logo on them and I have noticed very conscious decisions made by Kristin over the last few months to change the way we do things as a household. Ever since we have been married we have tried to be environmentally and globally focussed, and in a consumerist America that can be a hard thing. The awesome thing about Kristin, is her persistence to make a difference in the world in spite of what others think, feel or say.
Check out Kristin’s blog on Fair Trade today and also check out Alex’s blog about focussing locally on community resource centers in your own neighborhood.
Here’s a project today. In your outings today, whether it’s the grocery store or the coffee shop, find something today to purchase that is labeled “Fair Trade”. Then head to Kristin’s blog and comment what is is that you found with the Fair Trade logo on it. Sounds easy right?
