Idol Chatter: August 2007 Archives

Rilo Kiley seems like a weird choice for burn-or-burn scrutiny: Nobody from the band has publicly claimed to be religious, and they're kind of potty-mouthed. But band member Jenny Lewis' solo album, last year's "Rabbit Fur Coat," was mostly about the difficulty of being agnostic, the tension between nonbelief and the desire for faith and security. "I didn't intend to write a bunch of songs about God," Lewis told NPR. But nevertheless, that's what she did.

And God has popped up in Rilo Kiley songs with some regularity, although He rarely earns a favorable mention.

In one song from the band's back catalogue, a character tells her mother that "God never blessed her." On the staunchly secular "Absence of God" from their last record, "More Adventurous," Lewis suggests that a life full of love is possible without religion.

All that is what makes the first listen to "Under the Blacklight" so intriguing--will it be at all Holy Ghost-haunted like Lewis' recent output, or has Rilo Kiley left the Big Guy behind for good? And either way, is it a worthwhile listen for "people of faith" like me?

"O Jerusalem," the story of a Jewish-Arab friendship as the State of Israel is coming into being, opens in theaters in October. Watch the trailer, exclusively premiering on Beliefnet:

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Synopsis
"O Jerusalem" re-creates the struggle surrounding the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. At the center of these events are two young American friends--one Jewish, the other Arab. The film is told from the alternating viewpoints of the Jews, Arabs, and British, all of whom collide in their fight for the control of Jerusalem. Their involvement takes them from the streets of New York to The Holy Land, where they risk their lives to fight for what they believe in, as the city of their dreams teeters on the brink of destruction. The film is based on historical accounts from the best-selling novel of the same name, written by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre.

Jon Voight Discusses "September Dawn"

"September Dawn" tells a fictionalized version of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, in which a group of Mormons killed 120 innocent settlers who were passing through Utah in 1857. Voight plays Bishop Jacob Samuelson, the leader of the local Mormon community, who incites his people to violence.

That the societies, culture, and traditions of countries like Tibet, Pakistan, India, and others in South Asia are becoming diluted by western influences has long been the grievance of many patriots and thinkers. This sentiment is a familiar theme in author Pankaj Mishra's works, especially in his latest book "Temptations of the West: How To Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond," which is fast rising up numerous best seller’s lists. It raises several questions about the cultural, political, and social upheavals currently taking place in Southern Asia.

Mishra, an erudite intellectual in this book--his fifth one to date--identifies the more important issues that have risen out of such intense cultural change. From the pressures and temptations presented by Western style modernity, including the lure of prosperit, and the paradoxical nature of globalization as an agent for change and an eraser of cultural history, Mishra astutely tackles the ever-increasing number of problems the people of Southern Asia face.

MxPx's first album, 1994's "Pokinatcha," was one of the first releases on Tooth and Nail Records, a label which has since become the juggernaut of Christian indie imprints. A few years back, MxPx and the label's owner, Brandon Ebel, had a public falling out over the band's contract, which led the band to jump ship to A&M Records for three albums, then one with "secular" indie label SideOneDummy.

So the band's just-released "Secret Weapon" finds them back home in more ways than one: MxPx is back with producer Aaron Sprinkle (who discovered the band and produced "Pokinatcha"), back with Tooth and Nail (they've patched things up), and back, sort of, in the "Christian music" camp.

A bit of housekeeping for those readers who subscribe to our BeliefBuzz newsletter: We're changing the name to "Beliefnet Celebrities and Entertainment." But fear not, despite the name change, the newsletter will still bring you the same great content: *...