by Peter McDowell
Anthony Raneri is not a born-again Christian, but we talked and hung out with him for nearly two hours before his solo acoustic show at the Webster Theatre in Hartford CT May 22. Amongst graffiti-ridden walls of a greenroom, we talked about the weather and musical inspiration and of course their new album, The Walking Wounded.
We were thrilled to find him willing to open up when we asked him about having a relationship with Jesus. He shared genuine questions about faith and God during our time with him. He displayed a great attitude and performed an engaging set of a dozen songs including acoustic versions of “Landing Feet First” and “Duality” along with some covers. In our conversation and in his music, he explores faith and hope, not as fickle emotions that pale in comparison to the strife of relationships but as realities that can be almost inhabited.
“I am more interested than people who have been calling themselves Christians their entire life because I’m looking from the outside. I don’t take it for granted. I think that whatever it is that everyone else is seeing that everyone else is feeling is incredible and I want that feeling.”
At 24, he seems wise beyond his years. Raneri has matriculated from selling merch for Brand New at the age of 15 to singing for an internationally successful band. He is even taking a stab at managing a new band “The Status” from the midwest.

Anthony Raneri Interview May 22, 2007 @ the Webster Theatre, Hartford CT
RF: So, you are here in Hartford without your band. What’s it like playing alone?

Anthony: It’s awesome I’m having a really good time. This is the fourth show that we’ve done. I’m having a really good time. I love playing with my band and all…

It’s keeping me on my toes I’m onstage for the first time and I don’t know what I’m doing and I don’t know what to say and I don’t know how to act. It’s a lot of fun.

RF: Are you usually the front man?

Anthony: I’m usually the front man when we play as a full band. There is just something easier about those shows.

RF: We’ve seen a new wave of post-hardcore bands with Christian band members. Have any of those bands affected you?

Anthony: As far as being fans of them? Musically?

RF: Musically.

Anthony: Switchfoot is one of my favorite bands of all time probably… Further Seems Forvever… definitely one of my favorite.

RF: What’s your next tour?

Anthony: Warped Tour. We went out with Anberlin, Jonsetta, and Meg and Dia for seven weeks.

RF: How was that?

Anthony Raneri

Anthony: It was amazing. Probably the best tour I’ve ever been on. We’ve been friends with all those bands for a long time. Especially Anberlin, we’ve known for four years now. We were on tour with our friends. It was cool.

RF: We read in your bio and on your purevolume account with the new album (Walking Wounded). It seems like you guys have felt the need to verify that the album doesn’t reflect a negative outlook on life.

Anthony: We definitely didn’t want it to. Like anything, people are going to take what they want from it. However people can relate to it, that’s how they will. And I am fine with that. Whether or not it’s what I intended. Really, we wanted to show hope and how, through a tragedy there can be strength.

RF: Do you have a favorite wildlife show?

Anthony: Hmm. Not really. I’m not really that big on animals. I love dogs, but that’s about it.

RF: The learning channel and the discovery channel are getting popular. You never watch any of that?

Anthony: Oh I definitely do! Not so much wildlife though. Cooking shows, I’m down with…. the history channel. I’m really into all the behind the scenes stuff. A&E does the biography thing.

RF: Favorite muppet?

Anthony: Gonzo is my favorite muppet. I’m actually a big muppet fan. I watch the muppet show pretty religiously and I have all the DVD’s and stuff…. Gonzo is definitely my favorite cuz he’s the funniest by far.

RF: We like to ask people if they have a favorite Bible verse. Now, the people we interview tend to be Christians, but we thought we could ask you that anyway to see if you might….

Anthony: I wouldn’t be able to pick one. I have no idea.

RF: We also like to ask people: If you could write a letter right now to be read by yourself in fifty years, what would it say?

Anthony: I think I would ask myself if everything was worth it. I feel like I’ve chosen a path in my life and gone really gung-ho with it. At a really young age, I decided that I wanted to play music and decided that I was going to dedicate my entire life to it. And anything that I had to give up, anything that I had to compromise was going to be done so I could play music and I never looked back. Maybe fifty years from now, I’ll know if that was the right choice.

RF: What have you given up?

Anthony's acoustic guitar

Anthony: Relationships. Not just with girls, but with family, friends….. an education pursuing anything else.

RF: Where does your family live?

Anthony: My dad lives in Vegas and my mother and brother and most of my family are in New York.

RF: Do you want to talk about the Conan O’Brien experience?

Anthony: If you want to ask about it!

RF: How was it? Was it hard to make that happen?

Anthony: It was awesome. We’d been a band for seven years. We’re on our fourth album now. We’ve been trying to get anything like that for years.
It was cool man, the only thing that was different than I expected was I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I was going to be. You show up really early in the morning and there’s rehearsals and sound checks. By the time we actually tape the show, we’ve played the song like ten times on that day on that set in front of those people with Conan right there. The nerves went away by then.

RF: Our mission statement Bible verse is Philippians 4:8:

“Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.”

Do you see any truth in that or has that ever been something that has gotten you through something difficult?

Anthony: Definitely. A big part of what our new album is about is…. I don’t think a better life is going to fall onto anybody’s lap. It’s all about positive mental attitude. You have to want things to get better. You have to want a better life and you have to pursue it and I think a big part of pursuing it is picking out the good in a situation or knowing that there is going to be a light at the end of the tunnel as long as you stick with it.

So I definitely agree with that 100%.

RF: Do you have time to take any photos?

So what did Don LaFontaine do?

In 1969, he filled in for an absent voice actor and started on his way to success.  Since that time, Don morphed into the rich, throaty voice of cinema.  It’s hard seeing a movie trailer made in the last 30 years without Don starting it off with “In a world…” or “One man…” With a in house recording studio in his Hollywood home, the man was unstoppable.  Flixster.com says:

Aside from his continuing work in the trailer industry, he has also been the voice of NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and UPN, in addition to TNT, TBS and the Cartoon Network. By conservative estimates, he has voiced hundreds of thousands of television and radio spots, including commercials for Chevrolet, Pontiac, Ford, Budweiser, McDonalds, Coke, and many other corporate sponsors. At last count, he has worked on nearly 5000 films, including appearances as the in-show announcer for the Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards. Based on contracts signed, he has the distinction of being perhaps the single busiest actor in the history of SAG.

In the world of entertainment it’s unheard of that one person can monopolize such an important aspect of media.  No man was as popular in his own field than Don.  That is the reason I find his life and career so fascinating.  Don Lafontaine was a pro in every sense of the word.  He was excellent.  Don’s status and legacy is  something for all artists to not only aim for, but also to admire.

“…Remember, practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.”

-Don LaFontaine (1940-2008)

“What would it take for a boy about my age to hear cheers in his head upon that stage, and the cheers that would drown out the tears from my brown eyes?”

His journey to that stage was helped along when K’naan landed a speaking gig at the United Nations.  In 1999 K’naan, in a spoken word poetry piece, addressed the failures of the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees pertaining to aid missions to Somalia.  Singer Youssou N’Dour caught the performance and invited K’naan to work with him, thus leading to K’naan’s opportunity to tour the world.

Other artistic collaborations reveal K’naan’s eclecticism. From Mos Def and Damien Marley, to Maroon 5 and Metallica, Somali’s biggest hip-hop artist has worked himself into the American music scene with seemingly little effort.  That’s not to say he’s not a thinker.

It’s obvious to anyone who listens to K’naan’s music that deep sentiment and life
experience drives his art.  While rapping very articulately and thoughtfully, his lyrics can make you think, chuckle, tear up and Caucasian or not, you will bob your head.

But, let’s let K’naan to speak for himself. Here’s some selected lyrics off of Troubadour:

I was so worried, and hurt to see you bleed,
But as soon as you came out the hospital you gave me sweets.
Yeah, they try to take you from me
But you still only gave ‘em some prayers and sympathy.
Dear mama, you helped me write this by showing me to give is priceless.
Take A Minute

Is it true when they say all you need is just love?
What about those who have loved only to find that it’s taken away?
Why do they say that the children have rights to be free?
What about those who I’ve known whose memory still lives inside of me?
Fatima

No magic from David Blane. No painter to paint this pain. No Morgan Freeman to narrate this shame. So, she took refuge in prayer kind of like finding God in a phonebook. It came to her sounding something like a song hook.
People Like Me

A track I’d be remiss to neglect is the clever ending of the album “Does it Really Matter?” K’naan ironically points out typical Hip-Hop trends such as auto-tuning, pitch shifting (known as “the drop”), and writing hooks instead of songs. All this while occasionally imitating other rapper’s style and diction.

Hey, you need a single. Single to make a mingle, something that’s kinda simple. I would hate to call it jingle. A single is a missile; takes you right to the middle of 106&Park and maybe Jimmy Kimmel.
Does it Really Matter

Please check out K’naan’s work at knaanmusic.com.

One of my favorite things to do it to find musicians on youtube, myspace and purevolume who have yet to really make it big, but are amazing musicians.  Today I came across Garrett Gue, who is originally from Bozeman, MT but now lives in Seattle, WA.  Below is some information that I pulled off of his Myspace page.

Garrett Gue, hailing from Bozeman, MT, has been passionately exploring music ever since his uncle gave him a beat-up guitar when he was eight years old. Since then, he has found himself in the shoes of a jazz composer, the bassist of a traveling R&B band, a lounge musician, and in the last year, a singer/songwriter whose diverse influence and refined ear are truly evident.
Garrett shares a moment of honesty regarding faith, relationships, and daydreams in his debut release, ‘Tall Drink o’ Water’. The title of his album is drawn from the lyrics of one of its songs, ‘Sunny Days’, and refers to his tendency to be an inattentive dreamer of sorts.

Garrett currently resides in Seattle, where he continues to write music, perform, work, and eat Than Bros Pho. Performances are often accompanied by vocalist and melodica extraordinaire, Tazlyn Fischer.

by Ian Bauer

Say HUUTAJAT ten times fast. Five times fast? Actually, just see if you can say it once.

For the last 22 years Mieskuoro Huutajat, has been a relatively well kept secret.  They’ve performed all over the world from Belgium to Estonia to Canada. From rock clubs, chamber music concerts, supermarkets and swamps. But, you’ve most likely never heard of them.  Finnish for “Mens Choir The Shouters” Mieskuoro Huutajat is a choir made up of 30 men with black suits and rubber ties.  Their style of performance is undefinable.  They don’t sing, they shout.

Sometimes they howl.

This well-rehearsed group of manpower led by conductor Petri Sirvio, typically performs national anthems and patriotic songs from around the world as well as giving their shout-out to Finland.Their website claims:

“When the choir find a song that pleases their temperament and warped sense of humour, the conductor starts dismantling it: the melody goes first and usually the text is also heavily trimmed. The remains are then cast into a completely new form; the complex rhytmic structure emphasises the essence of the text, or simply reflects the voices inside the human brain provoked by the language itself, music, urban or rural noise, or the blood circulation system.”

Their method is simple; twist and shout.

What may have started off as an activity for 20 or so Finnish men with nothing better to do has evolved into a truly unique form of art recognized globally.  With excellence and strain, Mieskuoro Huutajat has successfully screamed for attention and been able to hold it’s own in the world of music for a long time and a long time to come.

My Wife Found Out About My Mistress–Now You Can Have Her

Things were going along just fine for the last few years. She and I had occasion to meet regularly, sometimes every evening in a week, if only for a few minutes at a time. We had one of those relationships where everything just seemed to click. It was like she was made for me.

But then my wife found out.

You could say she wasn’t very happy with how I was spending my time. You could also say the Grand Canyon is a good-sized hole in the ground. So now I’m left with the unpleasant task of having to find a new companion for my mistress. Normally I’d just walk away, no strings, no fuss. But I just can’t bring myself to do that to her. It’s a curious thing, but once you meet her I’m sure you’ll understand. Let me tell you a little bit about her.

She’s blonde, but not one of those blondes you see on the street every day. No bottled, bleached, fakey blonde here. Just beautiful, natural, rich blonde of the most enticing hues. In sunlight it’s almost mesmerizing.

I’ve never been anywhere with her that people didn’t comment on how beautiful she is–women as well as men. It’s just how she is–it’s like people can’t help but say something when they see her. I know how they feel. I’ve felt that way ever since I first saw her.

How did we meet? Well, that’s a story all in itself. Funny thing is, she comes from a family of beauties. Before I met her, I saw one of her sisters out with a friend of mine. Being the witty guy I imagine myself to be, I asked that ever-original question, “Does she have a sister?” My friend, enjoying a good laugh at my expense, asked what I would like if I could have anything I wanted. I told him, but it wasn’t until over a year later that I found out I had described her to a T. I was stunned the first time I saw her–even more stunned when he told me she was willing to go home with me.

Well, I couldn’t take her home, of course, and so started our clandestine relationship. We would never be seen in public by anyone who knew me. I much preferred to stay in with her anyway–who needs a smoky night club when you have companionship like her?

And what companionship! Words can hardly describe her. Slender, with curves in all the right places–if you know what I mean. Her favorite outfit is nothing but a little gold above the neck and around her waist. Seductive doesn’t even begin to describe the nature of that look!

Speaking of looks, here are a few pictures so you can have a look at her. If you’re interested in taking her home with you, please contact me. I won’t let her go with just anyone, but if the terms are right, I’m sure we can come to an agreement. Just do youself a favor: if you’re married, don’t let your wife find out. On the other hand, I’m told there are women who would love to have her in their house, too. I don’t know about any of that, but as long as it’s a good home, I’ll be happy for her.
Now that I have your attention, here are the details. This is a custom-ordered 2002 Paul Reed Smith McCarty Hollowbody II. I really did wait 13 months for delivery. Why am I selling? I’m shifting away from instruments (of course I have too many!) and into my recording studio gear. This guitar has never been played out. It’s in beautiful condition. Here are some features:

- Carved flame maple top and back. I didn’t order a 10 top, but I’ve never seen closer to perfect with better flame–front or back. The clear natural finish really shows the wood off, and with the gold hardware it has a very unique character.
- Mahogany sides and neck (wide fat)
- 22 frets; 25-inch scale length
- Rosewood fingerboard
- Abalone bird inlays (added option)
- Archtop Treble and Archtop Bass humbucker pickups with gold covers
- 3-way toggle, volume and tone knobs
- Stoptail
- Locking gold tuners with ebony knobs (added option)
- Gold hardware (added option)
- Leather archtop hard case
- All original tags and paper included

I’d like to find a home for this guitar that would put her in the hands of a player who can do her justice. That’s not me. I once had a conceit that my playing would rise to the quality of the guitar, but I’ve had to face the hard truth that I’m a techie and a voice guy, not a player. If you’re the player for her, let me know. Serious inquiries only. Cash, money order or PayPal only. $4100.00

Preface to this story:  My name is Ian Bauer. I write for Refocus Magazine. In April of 2009 I was called back to audition for Season 4 of NBC’s America’s Got Talent.  This was my blog entry from that time.

It’s exactly 15 minutes past midnight. Which means for my friends in Chicago, it’s 2:15am and my friends in Massachusetts it’s 3:15am. I cannot sleep. I’m not nervous, not excited and unfortunately not tired. To my right is an amazing view of downtown Los Angeles. Blurry orange lights that go on for miles. Every so often a plane can be seen thundering it’s way to the runways of L.A.X, where, according to Google maps, I am 6 minutes away from. Also, there’s palm trees. The weather was misty and cool when we got here. I trekked my way down the road my hotel is on to find fast food restaurants, strip clubs, LAPD roaming about and oh yeah, did I mention palm trees?

A few hours earlier . . .

Having just boarded, I sat in between a well dressed man reading Forbes magazine and a woman who while I’m sure is awesome with chopsticks is not so much with English. I turned to my left and asked “Do you do business in LA?” He works for a toy manufacturing company. I told him I’m originally from Massachusetts but have been living in Chicago for about two months. Turns out that Chicago was only his connecting flight and he was actually coming from Chicopee, Massachusetts. Only a short 40 minutes from where I live. Small world, huh? He told me a brief history of downtown LA in detail and used sentences such as “Due to the economic turbulence we’ve been experiencing…” You lost me at “due.”

Prior, during and after our flight I kept running into a group of about 7 or 8 girls that are also auditioning for the show. Each come from all over Illinois and are apparently state ranked numbah one in the art of dance.

On the plane ride (which felt like a million hours (actually four) (technically two due to the time difference)) I had time to think and pray. I find that God speaks to me most in the silent pockets of my prayer time.

This whole situation of being selected to audition for a national television show in LA has caused much attention and joy from friends. I am so touched that they share in the excitement. That is good friendship. Such exhilaration has caused a lot of “Dont forget me when you’re famous!” Let me say; I’m not banking on becoming famous this week. I feel very lucky to be in this situation.

Because of that, my main prayer recently is that God would keep me humble. What a funny thing to pray because, He doesn’t just change my attitude. He puts me in uneasy situations and opportunities to humble myself before Him and others. That’s a tough thing.

Also a quick thing about God answering another prayer of mine. I was planning on coming home this weekend. Before getting the callback from NBC I was trying to figure out how I would make it. A plane ticket was too expensive and a train ride was 20 painstaking hours I’d rather not deal with. Well, “due to the economic turbulence we’ve been experiencing” I bought a train ticket. The earliest I could get was Friday night which means I would arrive home worn out and tired Saturday evening. I was sooo not looking forward to it. Little did I know, the next day I would be getting an email from NBC’s travel coordinator that basically said “Here you go Ian, here’s a plane ticket home this Thursday. It’s on us.” Like Jesus would say; totally a God thing.

There you have it: that’s been my evening. Tomorrow we are to be camera ready and waiting in the lobby at 2:15pm. For my friends in Chicago, that’s 4:15pm, and for my friends in Massachusetts, that’s 5:15pm. To myself, that’s an eternity.