American Idol, Bob Dylan, and the Times

Greetings & salutations, Folks,

I don't know how many of you watched American Idol on the tube last night, but for the second time they featured a special entitled American Idol Gives Back.

This is a worthy cause where they do an "ask" to raise money for the poor and underprivileged of the world. We here at CBN do a similar thing through our telethons and Operation Blessing.

However, what was mind-blowing was Idol ended the show with all the current "idols," accompanied by a choir singing a Christian "hit," “Shout to the Lord!" In the context of that happening on the number-one show in TV land, it was rather amazing. Somebody got approval to do that, and the producers are to be commended.

And it worked, 'cause my wife Nedra jumped up and called in a pledge!

Here it 'tis: “Shout to the Lord” on American Idol

This bit of news:

Bob Dylan receives honorary Pulitzer Prize

Judges note his ‘profound impact on popular music and American culture’

NEW YORK (The Associated Press) - Thanks to Bob Dylan, rock ’n roll has finally broken through the Pulitzer wall.

Dylan, the most acclaimed and influential songwriter of the past half century, who more than anyone brought rock from the streets to the lecture hall, received an honorary Pulitzer Prize on Monday, cited for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.”

It was the first time Pulitzer judges, who have long favored classical music, and, more recently, jazz, awarded an art form once dismissed as barbaric, even subversive.

Long after most of his contemporaries either died, left the business or held on by the ties of nostalgia, Dylan continues to tour almost continuously and release highly regarded CDs, most recently “Modern Times.” Fans, critics and academics have obsessed over his lyrics — even digging through his garbage for clues — since the mid-1960s, when such protest anthems as “Blowing in the Wind” made Dylan a poet and prophet for a rebellious generation.

His songs include countless biblical references and he has claimed Chekhov, Walt Whitman and Jack Kerouac as influences. His memoir, “Chronicles, Volume One,” received a National Book Critics Circle nomination in 2005 and is widely acknowledged as the rare celebrity book that can be treated as literature.

According to publisher Simon & Schuster, Dylan is working on a second volume of memoirs. No release date has been set.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Here's the lyrics to one of Dylan's songs from his SAVED period. Prayer for him would be good so that those seeds bring forth new life.

BOB DYLAN LYRICS

"Every Grain Of Sand"

In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There's a dying voice within me reaching out somewhere
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.

Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break
In the fury of the moment I can see the master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.

Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.

I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other time it's only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.
[ www.azlyrics.com ]

Some words to the times:

Over five years ago when the USA made the decision to commit to the war in Iraq, I was praying about it and this word popped into my mind at the time: Quagmire…. defined as soft miry land that shakes or yields under the foot: a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position : predicament  

It appears we are in the muck, and only God's wisdom to our leaders will show the way out. In the meantime our troops and treasure are being expended. "Pray for all those in authority." (Roman 13)

A related subject on “water boarding” or any torture, which is a moral issue – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Jesus Christ) 

Finally, could this be a possible living historical metaphor? A black family taking up residence in the White House?

 All this food for thought and prayer.

Thanks one & all,

Scott