Paul O'Donnell: December 2008 Archives

The New York Times has a story about Muslim punk rockers, the amazing life-imitates-art phenomenon of "The Taqwacores," a novel by Michael Muhammad Knight.  They didn't exist until Knight's novel started circulating in the Muslim teen community. "This book helped me create my identity," one Muslim teen told the Times.

The punks object equally to how Muslims are portrayed in American media and to the hardline Islam that has spawned violence around the world. This stance means they wield irony and anger in equal measure.  In fact, an early Muslim punk anthem, according to the Times, is: "Suicide Bomb the Gap."

Discussing her own recent Christmas compilation with Amy Grant the other day, I asked the Christian rock diva about her favorite Christmas albums of all time. The classic Nat King Cole disc is a given, and we're going to give her a pass on Mannheim Steamroller, which Grant admitted she hadn't listened to in years. Here's her top six:

"The Christmas Collection," Amy Grant's second album with her new label, EMI, is mostly re-released holiday hits from the past, but it has a few surprises, including a cover of a Barbra Streisand arrangement of "Jingle Bells" and a new song she wrote with her husband, Vince Gill. We talked with Grant about writing with Vince, her upcoming all-new album and how she found out her daughter could sing.

Beliefnet: For a collection of old Christmas music, this new album has a lot of new tracks on it.

Grant: Yeah, two traditional songs and two new songs. There's Barbra Streisand's fast-paced version of "Jingle Bells," and "Count Your Blessings," made famous in the movie "White Christmas." I've always liked that version that Barbra Streisand did. For several years I performed it live. And you know, one thing about Christmas music is, it has its day in the sun and then it's not a centerpiece anymore, so it gets harder and harder to find.

Then there's one I wrote with my husband, Vince Gill, called "Baby, It's Christmas" that's jazz trio-ish, with strings, and a song I wrote with Chris Eaton called "I Need A Silent Night."

My review of "Milk," the new bio-pic about gay-rights activist Harvey Milk starring Sean Penn, pointed out that the movie was like one of those nesting dolls, showing in theaters just as the Prop 8 vote in California sparked actual gay-rights protests outside the theaters. There's another layer to "Milk," however, that was too inside-baseball for the review.

Nevermind that the movie's screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black, was raised as a Mormon, and Mormons are being blasted for their financial support of Prop 8. Black is also a writer for the HBO show "Big Love," a soap opera about polygamists that some mainstream Mormons have criticized as anti-Mormon bigotry. Does Black's movie excoriate those who call homosexuals perverts while he makes his living presenting Mormons as deviants?