Pope Creepy IV refuses to switch to new leopardskin pillbox hat...
>> Monday, March 19, 2007
To prove my claim that I have no especially malicious feelings toward Rolling Stone (although I'll freely admit that I despise their new "blog" format), here's a story I picked up from them the other day (the original link is here).
It seems that Pope Creepy IV -- seriously, this man should potato-sack race Strom Thurmond for Fox's new hit show, "Who Wants to Be the Crypt Keeper?" -- is out to get Bob Dylan. Sort of. The real story is that he wants a return to Latin services and Gregorian chants (the Medieval and anachronistic answer to Phil Spector's Wall of Sound). Some decades back, the Church backed off from strict Latin readings and allowed for local languages to be used in worship; this happened to coincide with the U.S. Civil Rights movement, and apparently Dylan standards such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" have become church standards since. The current Pope is expressing his disaproval of the previous Pope's appearance at a Dylan performance, refering to Dylan as "the wrong kind of prophet." Apparently songs about pacifism and compassion such as the above do not accurately reflect Christian belief in pacifism and compassion.
In all fairness, the Rolling Stone blurb is a bit of a musical elitist interpretation of the source article, which is really about the Pope's belief that " the Church should not jettison the rich heritage of sacred music it has created in 2000 years of history." Still, it's inspiring to see the Catholic Church once again dealing with pressing issues such as AIDS. Oh wait; that's the opposite of what's happening here.
Personally, I think he's just mad about the whole Jewish-Christian-back to Jewish journey of one Robert Zimmerman. Perhaps he would do well to remember the Church's rich heritage of alienating its followers? "I'm Henry the Eighth, I am, I am..."
In related near-kudos for Rolling Stone.com, check out the "Rolling Stone Rules for the Fair Use of Important Band Names." Again, oversteps the "snob vs. funny premise" line, unlike Paste's "Greatest Dead Songwriters" feature.
It seems that Pope Creepy IV -- seriously, this man should potato-sack race Strom Thurmond for Fox's new hit show, "Who Wants to Be the Crypt Keeper?" -- is out to get Bob Dylan. Sort of. The real story is that he wants a return to Latin services and Gregorian chants (the Medieval and anachronistic answer to Phil Spector's Wall of Sound). Some decades back, the Church backed off from strict Latin readings and allowed for local languages to be used in worship; this happened to coincide with the U.S. Civil Rights movement, and apparently Dylan standards such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" have become church standards since. The current Pope is expressing his disaproval of the previous Pope's appearance at a Dylan performance, refering to Dylan as "the wrong kind of prophet." Apparently songs about pacifism and compassion such as the above do not accurately reflect Christian belief in pacifism and compassion.
In all fairness, the Rolling Stone blurb is a bit of a musical elitist interpretation of the source article, which is really about the Pope's belief that " the Church should not jettison the rich heritage of sacred music it has created in 2000 years of history." Still, it's inspiring to see the Catholic Church once again dealing with pressing issues such as AIDS. Oh wait; that's the opposite of what's happening here.
Personally, I think he's just mad about the whole Jewish-Christian-back to Jewish journey of one Robert Zimmerman. Perhaps he would do well to remember the Church's rich heritage of alienating its followers? "I'm Henry the Eighth, I am, I am..."
In related near-kudos for Rolling Stone.com, check out the "Rolling Stone Rules for the Fair Use of Important Band Names." Again, oversteps the "snob vs. funny premise" line, unlike Paste's "Greatest Dead Songwriters" feature.
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